The Silent Project Original
by Jared Head
Summary: Jorcy is in a bit of a dilemma. He can either accept what he is to become or reject his expected future self. Either way gives him the ability to change two worlds. But when species genocide is publicly approved, everything spins out of control.
1. Stay or Go?

Toei Animation owns Digimon. I don't know who owns Iggy Pop. Any original characters, ideas and themes I've written down in this story are owned by me. Thanks for reading!

In the top portion of Chapters 1 – 14 you'll see something that says "-July 18th Session". What that indicates is that it is a chapter that has been re-written. If at any time I need to re-write a chapter beyond Chapter 14, I will add "-July 18th Session" to it at the top.

-July 18th Session-

* * *

**The Silent Project**

**By Jared Head**

* * *

**Chapter 1**

**Stay or Go**

* * *

"**_Have no fear of perfection - you'll never reach it."_**

**Salvador Dali**

* * *

"I think it is safe to say that our search has finally finished," he said.

"So now do I get to perform an extraction?" the younger asked.

"Yes you may," the older one said. The younger walked out of the room, "Wait just a second," the eldest called. The younger stopped.

"Yeah?" he asked.

"Remember that we can't afford to lose this one, and make sure that if you encounter the defector, that his retrieval goes smoothly, understand?"

"Yes sir. No transfer problems, no problems, nice and smooth," the younger said, as it had become routine to hear it from the elder. Resuming the walk down the hallway which the elder had disturbed, the young opened a door and left for the nearby canyon.

He started by sprinting towards where the location usually was. The target wasn't exactly easy to find and it had to be accurately pin-pointed or one could lose their life.

He jumped off the ledge and let gravity kick in. He was in free fall in a matter of seconds. He would move a leg up or down to help stabilize himself a he continued to fall down the side of the canyon.

He had done this many times before, but every time offered a new obstacle. Every time it was unique.

The speed from falling was just slow enough for him to land on the bottom safely. He bent his legs enough as he hit the ground. He bent them enough to put him in a squatting position. It was something he learned to do from others, as bending the legs when landing on the ground helps distribute the force of landing.

He took off through a maze of geologic formations. Arches, natural bridges, massive boulders. He sprinted like a bat out of hell.

As he sprinted, he left a considerable trail of dust behind him. He noticed this and his pace quickened. It could give away his position and he wasn't about to be taken out that easily. He decided to take a more physical route.

It was all a carefully coordinated ballet of running, jumping, dodging, pushing and grasping. He jumped onto the top of one of the boulders and began to run and jumped from one boulder to another.

He placed one of his claws against a boulder and pushed himself into the air.

While in the air he righted himself using his tail and stabbed a claw into the vertical face of rock. This one wasn't the one he had jumped from; it was the other side of the canyon.

He stabbed his other claw in to stop his body from swinging too much. He dug all three of his right foot's talons into the rock and all movement stopped.

He pulled his foot's talons out and began climbing at a furious pace. Lifting a claw out of the rock, swinging it around and stabbing the rock as hard as he could. His claws went into the rock deep enough to hold him in place, but he wasn't thinking they would. Thinking that would have slowed him down and made him careless.

There was no room for slow or careless digimon when something more was at stake.

He was breathing deeply and his arm muscles began to burn from the exertion he was putting them through. His body was being battered, but he continued on.

He reached the top after climbing several hundred feet, digging his claws into the top and pulling himself up.

The ground around his left claw loosened forcing him to add more pressure onto his right claw. He roared as the pain began. In a surge of strength he was able to push off and collapse onto the flat ground of the mesa.

He had nearly failed in reaching the top. If he had, his life, and many others would have been lost.

Looking around he could tell that he missed a perfect climb by only a few feet. Now he was off to the cave several hundred meters to his left. He sprinted the distance in a matter of seconds. He didn't even lose his breath.

Inside the cave it was as dark as dark can get. His eyes quickly adjusted as they were highly refined after generations and generations of changes and improvements. He saw the hole in the middle of the cave and sat down, hanging his legs over the edge of the hole.

He checked his surroundings and saw that everything was exactly the way it should've been. He shoved off of the ground. He added more pressure to one claw to enter him into a spin.

As he spun around he reached out and barely grasped the side of the hole with his claws, his armor scraping in frantic movements to help stabilize his grip.

He could see the whirlpool was only a few meters below him. He started to swing his lower body like he was an Olympic gymnast.

His swinging continued until he was about to smash into the roof of the hole with his feet's talons. He let go with his knees touching the roof and began to fall.

Slowly somersaulting, he checked how close he was to the roof as compared to the position of the whirlpool. He could feel his talons dragging along the roof until his feet were dragging across the roof. With his feet firmly placed on the roof, he pushed with all the force his legs could produce.

Down he shot like a missile into the whirlpool. He didn't intend on surfacing.

* * *

The room was dark mostly. A little light seeped in from the blinds covering the windows. The clock's digital readout read 7:24 a.m. It was a slightly foggy morning, nothing too out of the ordinary for the region in June.

Nothing real worthy of watching on any of the news channels. The same idea was also in effect for the regular channels as well.

The room was a normal sized one, and it had a pretty normal sight in it: Jorcy, and sleeping. This time sleeping off an exhaustive week.

Jorcy was just fresh out of high school, graduating the day before this morning we start this story. He was a good student and was one of the few in school who actually put thought into whatever he worked on.

He would say school was an institution that should be voluntary, so that way all the students who did not want to be in school would be gone, leaving the ones who truly came to learn at school free of distractions.

He would always add that he would be one that would stay in school, but only if held at gunpoint.

It was a long night before, as all the parties after graduation went after him faster than most teachers' tempers when he spoke in a sarcastic tone. He fondly remembers how much aggravation his tone would cause one of his teachers. Most of this bantering involved outlandish lies to the teacher, which the teacher actually believed.

This all led to many eruptions of laughter at the teacher from students and further infuriation of the teacher.

If you needed someone to tell a lie, Jorcy was not your man. He was a natural born straight shooter in his honesty policy and preferred those he knew to be straight shooters. Even the chronic liars were completely honest when around Jorcy.

He was generally a quiet person at school but he carried himself in a manner that earned the respect of all with the confidence he displayed. Those who resented him admired his abilities to accept his successes, and accept his failures even easier.

He was best known for his constant usage of sunglasses. Many times he had been asked, and each time he explained how his retinas on certain days were unable to handle huge amounts of light, and the sensation similar to a white hot knife being stabbed into his eye if he wasn't wearing them.

Most people didn't even notice but they always knew subconsciously if outside, he would probably be wearing them.

The clock turned to 7:25, and a whirring began, like something spinning up to speed. The speakers in the clock turned on, and began blaring music. "Well do yah', do yah' do yah' wanna'?" the speakers blared. He had a CD in his clock.

He was up immediately to the sound, almost anticipating the clock to break into song. It took a few blinks of his eyes, but he got them in focus, moving the fluid which had stagnated in patches and left a patch where anyone's eyes moving over would go blurry, until he blinked it away.

He slowly moved around, getting the feeling back in his body and pushed himself up in bed. His right arm was dead; he had slept on it during the night cutting off its blood flow.

He hopped out of bed, and began to flail his arm around in time with the music. Amused, he continued. A loud crack came from his elbow, and he stopped; now feeling a little pain. He clutched the elbow and grunted a little.

Free. He was free. He didn't really know what to think as he stood there, looking in the mirror. Other than the fact he had a very noticeable snot line coming down his nose, he looked just the same.

He quickly wiped the line away with the sleeve of the nightshirt he wore. He was out of the care of school and on his own. He thought of the years of dreaming of the very morning it was, and how he would feel. Something like ecstasy, happiness beyond compare. Irrational exuberance possibly

It felt like a normal morning, much to his dismay. He opened the door of his room and began to make his way to the kitchen to make something for breakfast. The blast of air hit him as he opened the door, which revealed the scent of food.

He walked into the kitchen, to find breakfast covered in plastic wrap and a note attached to it. It read:

_**Sorry I had to leave, but I had an emergency to catch and take. So I'll be back tomorrow, as long as no one else has an emergency. **_

_**Signed,**_

_**(With a lot of regards and a promise not to crash)**_

_**Jet**_

Jorcy smirked a little at the note. Knowing Jet took the time out to actually make him breakfast.

Jet was who Jorcy had lived with since his parents had…well; Jorcy never looked back on what happened with his parent's sudden situation. He figured it happened, and that was all to be said about it as he can't change his past, but back to Jet.

Jorcy was living with Jet, and had been living with him for the past two years. It was funny, as the situation caused him to need a caregiver, and the only one that was suitable that Jorcy would let the social services place him with was Jet.

Jet was Jorcy's cousin, from his father's side. His mother's side was where most of his physical traits came from, but his father's side is where most of his likes, dislikes and mental traits came from. Jet looked remarkably similar to Jorcy's father, but Jorcy had only a slight similarity to his father.

Jet was a little over ten years older than Jorcy, but had already done enough in the field of private piloting to make even the most experienced and seasoned pilot seem like a sloppy pilot.

Jet was extremely respected in all of his jobs that he held. He was a very humble person, and would rather be in the background than in the spotlight. He had a reputation for his ability to think faster than anyone else, even under the highest pressure.

He wasn't going to crack, let alone he wasn't going to let anything get to him.

Jet was also known of his love of life, it was almost a lust for life, and he could hear Jet now.

"_Lust for life? Me? Please spare me from the wrong definition! Maybe the old meaning of "lust", which was having an intense craving for something, but not in the more modern sense of the word "lust". Think of it more as the Iggy Pop song "_Lust for Life_" as compared with the Bible, except I'm with Iggy Pop."_

He liked the rush he got from certain things that normal people deemed "crazy". Walking, or really running on the crazy side of life, with an emphasis on crazy and life. One thing he had been hooked on was skydiving using a wing suit. He said he loved the feeling of flying and longed to get it back. Jorcy never understood what Jet meant by that.

Endurance was another factor that set him apart. He could last two, three, in some cases going as far as four times longer than the average person in his job he held in the present.

He was always happy, even through the lowest points in his life. Always joking, smiling and trying to get others to smile around him, even if he felt the worst of his life. You could almost say he would take a bullet for one of his friends.

Quick to forgive and never held a grudge, he was friendly, even with people who disliked him. Jet was a thinker with fighting the last on his list of possible solutions.

Jorcy took the plate of food, and sat down at the kitchen table. He looked out the window as he began to eat the scrambled eggs, and saw that Jet had also pulled his car out.

It sat there, the new red convertible, gleaming it's aura in the sunlight. A gift from Jet for graduating High School, he hadn't even got it out of the driveway yet and couldn't wait.

The breakfast was a little cold, as the eggs, bacon and hash browns had been sitting out for a little while and Jorcy decided it was best to get ready for the day.

He would finally be able to go around town in his new car, hopefully spotting a few friends while out.

He walked over to the computer to turn it on to check the weather. He reached down to push the power button, but before he pushed the button the computer turned on.

He slowly came back to sitting straight in the chair, and the computer seemed to be running itself. Eyes shifted back and forth. Confusion was evident on his face. Jorcy had no clue what the computer was doing.

"Must have a Trojan or something," he said. While saying this, the start up screen came up and the computer automatically logged itself in. It was like someone else was running it.

That was it, someone else was running it. He pushed the classic "Ctrl-Alt-Delete" combo, and the result was nothing. It had seemed to suddenly become independent of its creators.

"What the friggin' hell?" Jorcy nearly yelled with shear confusion. His mind raced through all rational solutions, and he quickly went through them. Then the last one clicked into his mind: pull the power cable.

Grabbing and throwing the chair through the air, he dived under the desk the computer was on, grabbed the cable and pulled it out of the computer. The whining of the computer faded away, and Jorcy smiled at his solution working.

Slowly crawling out from under the desk, Jorcy let out a sigh of relief as eh looked at the mess the scramble to turn the computer off had made. The computer had met its match, and that match was Jorcy.

His smile increased, man beat machine. Then a frown appeared. The sound of the computer whirring back to life let Jorcy plaster a look of shock on his face.

"What the hell!" he screamed at the top of his lungs, nearly screeching his words out. The computer continued, unhindered by the screeching. Mocking him if you will. The screen went black for a few seconds, but then a window opened on the screen. Jorcy read the text that slowly scrolled out with the window…

"**_Confirmed" _**was the first he saw,** _"Initiate download of Flame.sys ...commencing in 5…4…3…2…1…locating server…download initiated…0...1...depending on your internet connection, this download could take 4 days with dial up, 2.7 days with broadband, and 19 hours with T1…or in your case, about 5 minutes…"_**

"What in the hell is this?" Jorcy asked aloud to no one, "I want to see the damn weather, not download some software update," he continued. Jorcy was also not the best at computers. Usually a swift hit or kick worked, but after a few to the computer, nothing seemed to be stopping it. Then, a moment of brilliance.

Call Jet.

The only thing Jorcy truly understood was the pure sarcasm coming out from the now independent computer. He moved over, picked up the phone and dialed up Jet's cell phone number. The tones in his head registered as he pushed the buttons. 4-3-7-9-2-0-2.

_**Ring…ring…ring…We're sorry, but the number you have reached does not accept blocked calls; please try again by pressi…**_

Jorcy turned the phone off, turned it back on, and heard the message continuing. This time he turned it off, waited a few seconds, turned the phone back on, heard a dial tone and dialed. (star)-8-2-4-3-7-9-2-0-2.

_**Ring…ring…ring…We're sorry, but the number you are attempting to reach is out of its local area code, please hand up and tr…**_

Jorcy was beginning to become annoyed. So he hung the phone up and waited, turned the phone back on and began to dial. (star)-8-2-(5-7-4)-4-3-7-9-2-0-2.

_**Ring…ring…ring…We're sorry, but the number you have called requires 1, then the area code, please hang up a…**_

Jorcy had now become officially pissed off. So he slammed the phone back onto it's holder, waited a few seconds, picked it up, smashed his finger into the on button, heard a dial tone, and began to dial, pressing with great force with each button. (star)-8-2-1-(5-7-4)-4-3-7-9-2-0-2.

_**Ring…ring…ring…ring…ring…ring…ring…ring…ring…ring…**_

"'Ello?" Jet's voice asked.

"Jet, hey, the computer's acting weird," Jorcy said, walking back over to the computer.

"Really? Try finding that book on animal sacrifices and find the neighbors cat," he said making light of the situation at hand, "Well, I'm still stuck on the freeway out here, traffic you know. Yeah, love you too asshole!" he yelled at someone cutting out in front of him, "What's the problem?" Jet asked.

"Yeah, it's been doing everything on its own, it asked to scan my face and I did, to which it said "Confirmed"," Jorcy said, making little quotation marks in the air, as if Jet was bale to see them, "Then it started downloading a file, something named Flame dot s-y-s. You know anything about that?" There was an eerie silence.

"I'm on my way back," Jet said, his tone changing to one that sounded like he was in a life or death situation. The sound of squealing tires and horns honking were coming from the speaker in the phone Jorcy was holding. Jet closed his cell phone and made a beeline for home, driving as fast as he could through the breakdown lane.

"I wonder what the hell that was all about," Jorcy said. He then sat down to watch the **_Flame.sys _**file being downloaded, which was at 52. Jorcy then decided it was best to let the download do what it needed to do. Without being able to check the weather, he made an uneducated guess as to what the weather of the day was to be like.

Determination: Foggy.

Fog equals cold right?

It was a guess. If he was wrong, what's the worst that could happen? Shorts were in due order. A material similar to khaki but tougher, able to withstand more punishment and beige seemed to be the color of the day as well.

The ability to be comfortable in almost any type of weather was the best part about them. A t-shirt, just randomly grabbed. Flexibility, reliability, it all added up in favor of t-shirts. This one was simple, white with black trim. Simplicity at it's best.

Next: shoes. Nothing too flashy, nothing too ratty. Just some shoes that looked like a crossover between normal shoes and running shoes. With obvious marks of running on them as scuff marks adorned them. Lacing them was easy as can be, and double knots were the special of the day.

On to the final piece: a black jacket. It looked more or less like a jacket a little above the level of casual, but it got the job done. The only thing special about it was the pocket inside of the jacket and maybe the three striped white lines running down each sleeve.

He pulled a little wrinkle out of the jacket as a thunderous crash was heard in the living room.

"Damn it!" being yelled followed shortly.

_Must be Jet having a hard time getting in, better go help him _were Jorcy's thoughts on the matter. So he walked down the hallway normally, turned the corner and froze.

This was not Jet, far from Jet. This was…was…what the hell is this?

It was about seven feet tall, at least, but not taller then seven and a half feet tall. It was blue whatever it was, it seemed to have a type of armor and a face mask on, and the armor had a flame paint job resembling that of a car. Out of the face mask was one long horn, which Jorcy realized could be used for stabbing.

This blue thingy was sprawled out over the remains of the DVD rack, somehow taking a fall into it and down went this blue thingy and the DVD's. He didn't move, mostly out of fear, but somewhat out of sheer shock at whatever this was. It also didn't move. The two both stared at each other for a long time

"So, are we going to talk of what?" it asked, its left claw twitching a little.

_It speaks! _Were the first thoughts to fire off in Jorcy's mind. Then thoughts of that claw, with its three razor sharp blades, about 18 inches long. Thoughts of being killed by being stabbed by those crept in slowly and he slowly rejected them, realizing whatever this was had hit him in the head, and also had drug him into the living room.

There were two things keeping him from feeling fear: **1) Adrenaline 2) The fact that whatever this blue thingy was, it had more than an opportunity to kill him, and didn't kill him.**

"I guess," Jorcy said, voice cracking in fear. Kill or no kill, whatever this was, it was dangerous.

"You guess what?"

"Huh?"

"What?"

"Eh?"

"Okay, look human; you've completely confused the living hell out of me."

"Well, why don't you sit down and think about it," Jorcy snapped back. He didn't care for being called "human"; in fact, he found it a little condescending that this blue thingy was putting him on the same relative level of all 6 billion people in the world.

"And do what? Light myself on fire as a form of civil protest?" the blue thingy snapped back even faster.

"Non-violent protest," Jorcy corrected. Whatever this blue thingy thought it was, it wasn't going to get the best of Jorcy.

"Okay, this is super strange; I thought you would at least be startled by me."

"I'm not, you're just a really amazing hallucination," Jorcy replied back all smiles.

"First off, I'm real and the name's Flame in case you were wondering."

"Okay Flame. I can already tell, if I remember right from the TV series, that you're a Flamedramon, a quite a good mental representation of one might I add. I'll believe you if you can prove this isn't a hallucination," Jorcy said, crossing his arms. Flame, shocked at Jorcy being able to identify his digimon species so quickly could only react.

Flame crossed his arms and walked forward slowly. Then with a swift movement, he kicked Jorcy's legs out from under him, grabbed onto Jorcy who was falling to his side and slammed him back first into the ground, knocking the wind out of Jorcy's lungs.

"How 'bout now?" Flame asked, a small grin appearing from out of nowhere. His eyes behind the mask seemed to glisten red with laughter. He took his claw off of Jorcy's chest and let Jorcy get up. Jorcy stayed keeled over for a good deal of time.

"What happen?" Flame asked, leaning back on the sofa, "I hit you too hard?"

"No," Jorcy said, gasping for breath, "It's just that I---" Jorcy bolted suddenly at Flame. Flame didn't even twitch as Jorcy lunged into the air. A side step from Flame left Jorcy sailing through empty space and headlong into the side of a coffee table. He lay there for a few seconds moaning, clutching his forehead.

"Feisty little one aren't you?" Flame said, slightly amused, "Okay, stop the violence my friend, let's get down to business since I am here on that."

"Kiss my---"

"Err!" Flame yelled out, "Sit," he told Jorcy, "Oh, wait, sorry. This is your place, no need for me to order you around. Sorry, caught up in the moment."

"It's ok," Jorcy said, "I've got too much a headache to worry anyhow." Jorcy took a seat in his easy chair and then Flame followed by plopping down on the couch. He leaned back a little.

"Goodness," Flame said, exasperated, "Downloads these days are real killers."

"Tell me about it," Jorcy said, still clutching his forehead in pain.

"Why would I tell you, you haven't had to deal with one," Flame said, looking harshly over at Jorcy, "Well, anyways on to business."

"Oh God," Jorcy moaned, "Take these delusions away from me and quickly."

"I'm not a delusion!" Flame roared out, startling Jorcy.

"To me you are? In fact, why do I even bother talking to you, you're not real. You're about as real as fairies, dragons, holy grails and quantum mechanics. Not enough has been proven of their existence from them to be a factual idea. For you, nothing has been proven of your existence. It just so happens that a few years ago it was a prominent TV show and card game that's now lost much of its fan base, now if you'll excuse me, I've got a life to continue," to which Jorcy stood up.

"You could tell I was a Digimon?" Flame asked. Jorcy ignored both the question and Flame. He walked into the kitchen, shaking his head. Thoughts began to spill out.

_It seems almost too life-like to be deemed a hallucination, but Digimon don't exist. It's impossible for a fictional TV show to be real. In fact, I haven't even heard anything about Digimon in a long time. _

"Fact _is_ stranger than fiction. Fiction works with Fact, while Fact works with Fiction. Fiction in order to work has to be able to fall back and be Fact to every degree imaginable. What you may perceive as Fiction is actually _Factual_, but only to one who believes in the idea of Fact and Fiction. To call me a delusion only strengthens the point that I am a factual being," Flame said, walking into the kitchen after Jorcy.

"Sounds more like twisting an idea to make you seem like a plausible entity to me," Jorcy fired back.

"Well, I am whether you like it or not, so will you hear me out?" Flame asked.

"Hear you out about what?"

"We need your help Jorcy," Flame said simply. Jorcy stood there for a few seconds looking down, shaking his head, "I'm not joking around. This is some serious stuff and we thought you had the best abilities to call on."

"So you need a hero?" Jorcy asked.

"No, we don't need a hero," Flame said, "We need a helping hand. If we needed a hero, we'd get someone who would be expendable," Flame said with a slight smile.

"Glad to see I'm appreciated to some extent, but why?"

"Why what?" Flame asked.

"Don't tell me you were expecting me to go quietly," Jorcy said as he spun around with folded arms.

"Well, we were at least expecting initial cooperation," Flame said, also now folding his arms as well.

"What exactly will I be doing?" Jorcy asked.

"I don't know. I'm just the messenger handing out invitations to a party."

"Heh!" Jorcy laughed, "A clueless messenger, worse than a fallen angel, and I've known plenty of fallen angels" Jorcy snorted.

"Well, fallen or not, time is of the essence and is something that can never be stopped. I need to know whether you will stay or will go," Flame pressed.

"Whoa, whoa, whoa," Jorcy said, bringing his hands up, "You wanna' push me around like that, then you won't get a damn thing out of me, understand?" Jorcy said sternly. In his mind, the battle of wits had began, "You want me to go to where?"

"The Digital World, where else? How about Mozambique?"

"Ah, a fellow smartass," Jorcy said with a little chuckle, "You're in good company, as I am one too."

"And your point would be?" Flame asked dryly.

"Boy I tell 'yah. It's amazing how a few minutes ago I thought you and Digimon were just a really great TV series that branched out into other mediums of entertainment. I guess I was wrong."

"No," Flame corrected, "You're right. What you perceive as the first two seasons of a TV series are visual representations of actual events in the Digital World. Everything else that happened outside of the Digital World was fictional. Once again, factual in the Digital World and fictional in the Real World. Fiction falling back on fact: Proof of theory and equation."

"Theory? Yes, you've proved your theory. But equation? Unless you'd like to write it down somewhere."

"Don't mind if I do," Flame said. He carefully took out a dry erase marker from a holder and walked over to a dry erase board hanging on the refrigerator. After a few seconds of writing, he stepped back and lobbed the marker at Jorcy.

Jorcy caught the marker as he began to walk over and look at the equation Flame had just written out.

**F to the first power is equal to F to the second power**

**F to the first power represents "Fact"**

**F to the second power represents "fiction"**

**Two possible solutions **

**Zero**

**One**

"Two possible solutions in positive," Flame said, pointing a claw at each, "Both are the two numbers that represent binary code which is the basis of all digital data every created."

"Which this theory is also pure crap. There's no reason for the theory as fact and fiction I think can not be put into a mathematical formula. You're just using this to look all artsy-smartsy. So you're not being yourself," Jorcy added, wiping it away with his hand as opposed to the little eraser.

"Yes, but in the Digital World, it dictates quite a bit. It's a plausible equation outside of the real world. It works. Try it and you'll see that both one and zero are solutions to the equations, but this is just one made up to define the fact that fiction and fact are both the same when compared to each other."

"It's still pure bullshit, completely useless in telling me," Jorcy said, "I was never much of a math buff. I hate numbers, there's too many of them," he said dryly.

"Alright," Flame said, "amusement time is over, and I realize this is all a bit of a shock for you---"

"A bit?" Jorcy cut in, smiling a little, "This is more than a bit. I wish I had a gauge to measure my shock, luckily, I know how to keep most of it to myself. I'm only letting a little out as we go," Jorcy said, once again going back to his crossed arms and leaning pose, if it was a pose.

Jorcy continued, "You come in here expecting me to leave quietly, head down, nodding yes and dealing with the fact that this could be a long leave."

"It could be a permanent leave actually," Flame added in.

"Permanently!" Jorcy exclaimed, jumping up from his relaxed position, "Let me think in private alright?" he asked.

"Go ahead, but time stops for no Mon," Flame said, now crossing his arms, his claw armor getting in the way a little. Jorcy moved out of the room.

_Okay, _Jorcy said to himself in his mind, _this might be what you've been looking for. A break in the mundane, a boost in your life. Made a decision already? Yeah, go with it, have a little fun, maybe do something important for once, get out of this boring place. Do you want to be here in this boring place? Neither do it. So just go Mr. I-Need-Some-Excitement-In-My-Life!_

"Sure, why the hell not, but I'd better be back quickly," Jorcy said, grabbing his car keys, "Just one thing before I go," Jorcy said, walking back into the living room. He stopped as he saw no one was there.

He opened the front door and walked out to see Flame standing next to the passenger side of the red two seater convertible. Jorcy walked around the car, opened the door, got in, started the car, and put the car into reverse and looked back.

"Forgetting someone?" Flame said very loudly. Jorcy looked over to his right and saw Flame standing outside of the car. Jorcy leaned over, straining again to open the door. Flame got hold of the door and pushed it with the side of his claw, obviously in an attempt to not scratch the paint.

He sat down in the car, and used the side of his claw again, reaching to the outside of the door to close it. Jorcy rolled up the windows just incase anything was planning on flying at them and hitting one of them.

"Where to?" Jorcy asked like a cabbie.

"Just drive down the street." He looked back again and the car rolled out of the driveway in reverse. Jorcy hit the brakes normally, shifted from reverse to neutral and then stopped.

"I don't know if I can do it." Jorcy said, almost apologizing.

"You've come this far, why quit now?" Flame said as Jorcy put his left foot on the clutch.

"Are you going to stay around me the whole time that we go?" Jorcy asked.

"I'll stay around as much as I can," Flame answered as Jorcy placed his right hand on the shifter.

"Promise?" Jorcy said looking over. The dragon could see the doubt and anxiety behind the sunglasses that covered Jorcy's eyes.

"Why wouldn't I?" Flame asked rhetorically.

"I better not be in over my head." Jorcy said, moving the shifter backwards, then to the left. He lifted his foot off of the clutch, and floored the throttle. The car took off like it had a racecar engine. After a few seconds Jorcy noticed a bright point of light up ahead.

"Should I hang on to anything?" Jorcy asked once again.

"It's a good idea to once we are in the void," Flame answered once again. Jorcy quickly glanced in his rear view mirror and saw Jet's car rounding the turn onto the street.

He noticed how its weight shifted from the front of the car to the back, obviously from Jet flooring the throttle. Almost as if Jet was rushing to get home. Jorcy didn't think anything of it, but then it shot into his mind.

"What's Jet doing home?"

"Huh?" said Flame, whipping his head around to Jorcy. The car hit the point of light and disappeared. The car was now flying through a void of what seemed to be colors and shapes messed together.

The two were being forced into the seats from the acceleration the car was undergoing as it entered into a white void. Jorcy watched as the front end of the car as it began to glow from the aerodynamic friction.

"What the hell is this?" Jorcy yelled, hanging to the steering wheel with white knuckles. The feeling of his body being sliced into millions of tiny blocks was the next thing he felt followed by a feeling of being broken up. The millions of tiny blocks split away, forming a cloud that expanded into nothing.

The blocks reassembled, forming Jorcy, and he was back flying through that realm of colors and shapes. This time it had a loud deafening roar, so loud, that his eardrums began to stop working as the sound overpowered the air itself.

He held on for dear life as the feelings of terror, adrenaline, and ecstasy raced through him. Flame remained quiet, too quiet to Jorcy for comfort. The violence of the ride in his car through this "trip" suddenly increased, and it reached the point of where Jorcy was beginning to feel his bones strained by the forces.

A point of light came into Jorcy's field of vision, and as it seemed to come closer, he could make out a shape. It looked to be a sphere traveling at the same speed as the car through the void. It unleashed a cloud of high velocity vapor.

The vapor began to wrap itself around the car. Everything but the car and its occupants warped to beyond recognition and the car decelerated quickly, jerking the two forward. Jorcy looked around, looking for a reference object, but he couldn't find one.

It was another void, but this one was pure white, nothing in it. The car seemed to be rested on something solid, but there was no shadow cast.

"What is this?" Jorcy asked to himself but out loud.

The car, without warning accelerated into a spin. Jorcy was pinned up against his window from the force.

Light then filled his entire field of vision, and he saw what looked to be land. The convertible was in a barrel roll as it dropped from the sky like it was in a low ballistic arc and re-entering for impact. The car fell for what Jorcy thought must have been thousands of feet before the sharp jolt of impact.

Jorcy was knocked unconscious, but the car continued in the sand for several hundred feet, sliding to a stop upside-down and on its hood. Jorcy was hanging in place, thanks to his seatbelts.

The convertible had landed roughly on a beach, and Jorcy was now in the Digital World. Unconscious for now, Jorcy would wake up a very different person.

* * *

**Hope you all like this new re-written version of the original series. Let me know what all of you think, as feedback is readily accepted. On to the next chapter...**

* * *


	2. Off

Toei Animation owns Digimon. Any original characters, ideas and themes I've written down in this story are owned by me, even though I've obviously _typed_ them. There, now I've averted about 4 out of every 5 lawsuits.

-July 18th Session-

* * *

**Digimon: The Silent Project**

**By Jared Head**

* * *

**Chapter 2**

**Off**

* * *

"_**I wanted you to see what real courage is, instead of getting the idea that courage is a man with a gun in his hand. It's when you know you're licked before you begin but you begin anyway and you see it through no matter what."**_

**Harper Lee**

* * *

The sound of waves trouncing onto the sand echoed within his mind. It seemed a peaceful way to come back to his senses, but as soon as his eyes opened, he knew he was far from peace. The dead give away was the fact his seatbelt was holding him in the car.

The blood rushing to his head made him feel very congested. Once he righted himself, he knew he would be fine. Maybe a stopped up nose for a few minutes with the possibility of some disorientation.

He reached down and unbuckled his seat belt. Now, while upside-down, blood rushing to the head can inhibit the idea of action and consequence. This was the case for Jorcy. As releasing the seat belt let gravity kick in, do its job, and what hangs above, must come down.

After being in a very awkward position that involved a neck well beyond its normal degree of flexibility, Jorcy began to pull himself out from under the car.

Luckily or unluckily, the sand was of no help to Jorcy in the aspects of grip. This was going to take longer than it did in the movies.

Once out, he sprawled out across the ground, trying to gather where he was. One thing that helped to determine where he was happened to be a wave. It washed over Jorcy, soaking him to the bone.

As the wave pulled back, Jorcy slammed his face into what he thought was going to be sand. Water and sand makes wet sand, and he pulled his face out covered in it..

He was still for a few seconds, almost as if he was saying, "Figures," to himself.

"This is just not my day," he said standing up. He took his sunglasses off, and wiped most of the sand clinging to his face off. He put his sunglasses in the inside pocket of his jacket.

He was right in assuming he was on a beach. If the damp and chilly air wasn't the dead give away then the sand was. But Jorcy was no idiot. There was one thing that seemed strange to him about this beach he was at.

Phone booths.

_What the hell are phone booths doing here? _Jorcy thought to himself. _Well, might as well look at them_ was his next impulse, and he followed it.

From what he could see, it was a nice beach, looking like something out of the South Pacific. He opened the door to one of the phone booths, picked up the receiver and began to dial. (Star)-8-2-(5-7-4)-4-3-7-9-2-0-2. This time he put the full number in, not wanting to have to repeat what happened the last time eh called Jet's cell.

"**_Ring…ring…ring…Hey, put some quarters in!"_** a voice from the receiver yelled, "**_You think there's such thing as a free lunch? So you must've thought there was also such thing as a free phone call, nice job, now put in a quarter and try again, dumbass!"_**

Jorcy was taken aback as he put the receiver back where it went. Was that a prank? Was the Phone Company deciding to hire not those smooth voices you usually hear?

Well, it didn't matter; it was just a thought that amused Jorcy slightly. At least he was comforted by the fact that insane people could hold jobs at the phone company. Now they had a choice finally between the phone company and the post office.

* * *

"So what do you think of him?" the older one asked.

"He's smart," Flame said to the open sky, communicating with whoever he was speaking with, "He has no family whatsoever if you exclude his cousin, so unlike the others we've seen, he could be killed and no one would worry where he has disappeared to," Flame said apathetically.

"You know that we can not afford to lose anyone, no matter what circumstances would happen if they seemed to turn up "missing" in their home world. This includes both humans and digimon alike, so I don't want you to ever think something like that again. Understand me?"

"Yes Sir," Flame replied with great respect, "Now, I think it may be a good time for me to get back to the package to make sure delivery will be accomplished," Flame suggested.

"Go ahead Flamedramon. Contact me when you are closer," the older one said, ending the conversation. Flame took another quick look around and then began a complicated process he had learned well before and had repeated many times before.

He took his claw and opened his mouth wide as wide as he could. Slowly reaching in and down his throat, his gag reflex fired off.

It was a simple procedure, but with his razor sharp claws, they made it into a complicated process.

His eyes began to water as he held back all of his natural instincts. After all the times he had done this, he expected to be use to reaching in, but he always seemed to react adversely every time.

His claw caught hold of the metallic object.

He closed the three blades around the object, and began to slowly pull his claw out of this throat. One slip up here, and he could end up having a slit throat. Worse, is that it would be from the inside.

But, he is living in the present, so those thoughts evaded him. He gagged a few times, but finally his claw was out.

He studied the metallic object for a few seconds. It was a tiny box, but it also happened to be a long range high frequency communication device. You would take it like a pill, and on its way down, it would latch on to the user's vocal cords and be able to transmit their voice from the vibrations it picked up.

An excellent idea, except for the methods of removal:

**1) The user has to physically remove the transmitter. **

**2) The user has to initiate a gag reflex, forcing the user to vomit the transmitter out.**

**3) Let the transmitter lose its grip after the battery fails in less than six hours and hope it is destroyed by the user's stomach acid. If not, it's a painful way out.**

Flame was glad he had removed the transmitter. He doesn't want to encounter what happened on his first try again, but recalls how it lead to 5 and three quarter days of not taking a seat, even if offered one.

He changed his focus back to the situation at hand. The package was lost, and Flame now had to cover what he estimated to be around 250,937,400 square miles, with around 146,000,000 square miles being ocean.

He mentally calculated how daunting the task would be, but a hunch would give Jorcy's location away. Jorcy would then be the second group of humans to arrive there, even though Jorcy was alone.

He began sprinting at a blistering pace.

* * *

"So why do you think they went after him?" Jet asked into the phone, pacing back and forth in the kitchen. Worry had set in once he had seen Jorcy in the convertible with someone he seemed to recognize, and to see it vanish was even worse.

"Well, I don't know what the hell they're thinking," Jet said, "Yes, I was going to follow them, until they disappeared into thin air. I don't know how they slipped in without me knowing, but somehow they did, and now their taking him away from me just to have a shot at me. What _I_ think this tactic is doing is trying to leave me out in the open, vulnerable if you will, but what they don't realize is that when you work your ass off and decide to take someone in, you give up only when you reach a full cardiac arrest," he said, angered and confused.

"I know I'm next Dragan. I have no clue what they're about to do to Jorcy, but damn it, when they get back, I'm not going to ask who is innocent, they're all going to get it," Jet said, "I could care less. Regardless of who they are, they're about to get the full treatment of the other version of me…the _real_ version."

He hung up the phone, knowing very well all the scenarios that could be playing themselves out.

"I've lost one…I'm not losing another of my family," he said looking out the huge kitchen window.

* * *

Jorcy slammed the receiver down, frustration showing on his face. Every one of the "pay phones from hell" was not working for him. Jorcy couldn't get a line out to anyone he knew, let alone to any sane people at least.

Numerous times he had called only to hear the weirdest paradoxes, musings and troubling phrases yelled at him from whoever was on the other line.

To Jorcy, he could very well be dreaming this entire thing. It seemed the reality of what was the Digital World was setting in at the moment. Fear, but the fear of the unknown became a powerful disruptor in his mind's workings, and its grip tightened its paralyzing fingers around all thoughts.

_What if I never get back home? What if I don't survive? How will I survive? Am I dreaming?_ Thoughts racing like a pack of horses. Then a sound, one that sounded like desperate screaming sent Jorcy bounding into one of the phone booths. He quickly shut the door and crouched as low as possible.

He could see a figure running over the top of a nearby sand dune, with another in hot pursuit. The pursuer seemed to lift something up and a bright light quickly emerged from it, shot across to the pursued, and the pursued was knocked forward, leg bent well out of normal shape. It very close to the phone booth and let out an anguished cry.

The pursuer slowly walked over. Jorcy took a slight peek, and could only make out the one on the ground, that whatever they were, they were not a human, and that they were red. He figured it was a digimon, but for now, he was staying as hidden as he could.

His back now pressed against the phone's bottom portion, no one could see him from the side that the two were on.

"What the hell are you doing this for!" one of them yelled. Jorcy figured that the yelling voice would be the pursued.

"Me? What am I doing this for? Edan, you shouldn't have kept it from us. If there's one thing you know, it was that deception only leads to pain. If, and I mean _if _you had told us immediately that you were a shifter then all of this could have been avoided, all this pain and suffering you are enduring. Yes, we would have killed you on the spot, but it'd be a death without worry or fear going through your mind. Instead, you chose to run," someone else said pleasantly. Their voice was pleasant in tone, but sinister in motive.

"So now, Edan, I'm sorry, but, you've sealed your own fate. Devi7, I want you to take mental notes on this one. This is a classic way to kill a shifter without a silver bullet style program."

"Now, wait just a minute, let's just talk this over Orida, what the hell is going on? Why, since I am a shifter, does that mean you have the idea that I need to be killed?" Edan asked.

Jorcy sat absolutely still, not making a noise. He restricted his breathing to avoid any possible audible sign bellowing out of him. He didn't know how sensitive a digimon's hearing was.

"All products involved in the "Silent Project" as it has been called have been erased. You are one of the few left, in fact, one of about a clawful left; therefore, elimination is well overdue," Orida responded coldly.

"No one knew of the adverse effects it would leave on the test subjects," Edan pleaded.

"You know what, you are right," Orida casually remarked. The sound of a rifle bolt sliding to the disengaged position was heard, "All the better to keep it quiet," Orida said, followed by the sound of something metal clicking together and locking with a hum moving up in pitch.

"Anything you'd like to say in your final seconds?"

"Aim well with your conviction, _not_ your weapon," Edan said sternly.

There was silence for a few seconds, and then what sounded like a machine gun firing mixed in with high pitched shrills sliced its way through the air. Jorcy brought his arms up and covered his ears, pushing into his ears as hard as he could.

He could feel the sound reverberating in his chest. It stopped. Jorcy brought his arms down slowly, slightly fazed by the noise. It started again.

He reacted in the same manner. The sound now painful to his ears, continued. As soon as it ceased again, he heard the pursuer walking away slowly.

"What the hell is this?" he asked. Then the same metal clicking and locking noise was followed by another quick burst of the noise. Stopping only when an explosion occurred.

"My car," Jorcy said to himself quietly, and then realizing he had just spoken, he covered his mouth. Too late. The sounds of objects piercing through the phone booth all around him rang out in his ears. He ducked down, covering his head.

He didn't care about the sound this time.

He had suddenly become the target. He was more concerned about being killed as sparks and glass shards shot through the air all around him.

He could feel something zipping through the air, al of them grazing his skin, jacket or hair. He could not tell what that something was, but there were many of them.

When the violent outburst had stopped, Jorcy was paralyzed with fear. He sat there, shaking, rattled by the past few seconds.

"Got it," Orida said, taping against the glass of the phone booth, "Run," he said again, and took off running.

From the sound of the voice, Jorcy could tell that the Orida had turned away from him, but Jorcy would take no risks. He couldn't move.

He was too scared to move.

* * *


	3. The Facts

Toei Animation owns Digimon. Any original characters, ideas and themes I've written down in this story are owned by me. Thanks for reading.

-July 18th Session-

* * *

**Digimon: The Silent Project**

**By Jared Head**

* * *

**Chapter 3**

**The Facts**

* * *

"_**Death is nothing to us, since when we are, death has not come, and when death has come, we are not."**_

**Epicurus**

* * *

Approaching the phone booths revealed the source of the thick black smoke that could be seen for miles: A phone booth with numerous holes in and a burning heap of metal.

"Great," Flame said sarcastically as he reached the apex of the dune, running full sprint to the shattered phone booth. He slid to a stop.

Glancing into the phone booth he saw Jorcy leaning into the door of the booth and shaking a good deal.

"Jorcy, what the hell happened here?" Flame asked wit concern. The package was found, but was it intact?

"Who was shooting at you?" Jorcy answered by pointing behind himself with a shaky hand.

Flame figured it was worth a look and walked around to behind the phone booth. He found something that could only have happened in nightmares.

It was a digimon, sitting against the back of the phone booth. Most of the shots the assassin had taken had found their marks.

The digimon was unrecognizable. Its head, arms, legs and back were completely decimated. It looked like someone had blown whole chunks of the digimon away into thin air.

That wasn't the shocking factor as Flame slowly looked the digimon over.

"It's still alive," Flame said, in disbelief. The mangled mess of life was breathing shallow breaths. It was determined to live.

The removal of the "swiss cheese" digimon had come and gone. It was off to a privately run medical facility where it would be operated on. Hopefully it would survive the procedure.

Flame was standing, talking to himself. To Jorcy it seemed that Flame was talking to himself. He was talking using the throat transmitter to someone back at a command center thousand of miles away.

They were writing down information and recording the conversation for further analysis. Flame was arguing as to why they needed a car dropped off at their location.

As Flame did his "paperwork", Jorcy curiously explored a little. A row of seven phone booths. One shot to hell with blood spattered all over the back of it and blood drenched sand at its base. An object caught his eye. It was a notebook, plain and leather-bound.

He knelt down onto one knee and looked at it. Slowly opening up the cover, he gazed on what could be best described as spontaneous writing. It had only four words that looked to be actually written out at a normal speed. They read, "This belongs to Edan."

"You're saying that he has writing all over himself?" Flame asked in shock, "On the parts of the skin that haven't been blown away? What's it say?" Jorcy glanced over to Flame slightly, and then something else caught his eye.

Writing in the sand. It must have been done by whoever this Edan is. Jorcy looked it over. Flame glanced and could see the three words in the sand.

_Keep It Silent!_

* * *

"Anesthetic is flowing," one of the many doctors in the room said.

"Good, we'll get this under way. Just wait a few seconds and he'll be set," the head doctor said, "Hopefully we'll have our first succesfulllllllll…uuuuuuuussssssssssssssseeeeeeeeeeeeee," the doctor said, his speech beginning to slow and deepen in pitch. The sound of the world faded away.

Edan was out.

* * *

"Jorcy!" Flame yelled at him. He snapped out of his trance like state, looking over at Flame, "We've gotta go, we have to pick-up someone and I need you to drive for me."

"But I don't have my car," Jorcy said. Flame could see the frustration of confusion beginning to seep through on Jorcy's face, "I don't even know what the hell is going on!"

Jorcy then pounded his fists into his car. Car? He stepped back a little in surprise at the car now sitting in front of him. It was exactly how he remembered it. Red paint, tan leather interior trimmed with chrome, exactly as he remembered it to be.

"Get in, and I'll explain everything," Flame said as he was walking to the other side. The doors opened, promptly by the doors closing. Jorcy turned the key already in the ignition.

"Explain," Jorcy said simply.

"Drive," Flame said, pointing a claw forward.

"Explain," Jorcy's tone sound like he was slightly annoyed.

"Drive," Flame said, beginning to become agitated. Jorcy collapsed onto the steering wheel.

"I can't go on like this," Jorcy's muffled voice said. The fact someone could've been killed right behind him was nagging at him.

"That's what you think," Flame said back. Jorcy's attention skyrocketed at Flame's words.

"I'm waiting for an explanation," Jorcy said.

"All right," Flame said reluctantly. Jorcy started the car, shifted into drive, and looked over to Flame.

"Where's a road?" Jorcy asked.

Flame pointed in the direction he should be going and Jorcy quickly corrected.

"There was a society. A utopia. But not like those in your mediums of writing and visual creativity. One where problems are kept quiet and the utopia is almost always destroyed. Its inhabitants led astray.

"This one was a perfect utopia. Flawless like a smooth, un-fragmented plain. Last time I had ever heard anything about it size, it was at around 427,000 inhabitants. All like me, none like you, no offense. It was nothing but Digimon.

"It was a town, a fairly large one in anyone's standards. It was perfect in every way, shape, form, idea and reality. Now, you didn't have to live in this utopia. There was a whole world out there to live in, it's just a few of the very thoughtful ones thought that maybe making an organized society would preserve ourselves, our way of life.

"Nothing could go wrong, that was, until everyone decided to try and have a shot at glory."

"Glory comes with a price, it's worse than ego. Ego infects one person and does not spread. It cripples its owner. Glory affects everyone around this glorious person, but does not affect its carrier. Ego destroys the one who possesses it; Glory destroys all who are around the carrier.

"Now, back to the reality of the story. This utopia was a voluntary thing. You didn't have to live in it. If you want to live in it, you could join. If you wanted to leave it after joining, you could instantly.

"No questions asked, no government teams of professional assassins sent out after you like in your creative mediums, you just left. You didn't have to join the society at all; you could still live outside of it.

"The society was for those who were social expanders. They wanted to live together. Much like you, we are creatures that need social interaction, the utopia just made it easier, much as how you have made social interaction easier with phones, e-mail, and the internet.

"We owe our birth to your needs to speak, see and hear. Thanks will come later," Flame said, pausing for a second.

"Now, as with any organized society, there was a level of control by the government that ran it. You can't have a society that has zero government control, that's anarchy. Anarchy is the most appeasing idea to beings of free thought. The idea that I make my own rules and do whatever I tell myself to do is a good idea, up until someone comes over and pulls off some anarchy on you.

"Ours was a Democratic Socialism. The government controls some of the companies, usually the major utilities and such while the public owns many other companies. We had no currency. Why establish one in a world where money has little if any value?

"In fact, most of us hadn't even understood the concept of money, as it was something that never came into our lives at any point. I was a member of this utopia of sorts, and it did change me.

"Curiosity is a powerful ally as well as a dangerous weapon. Just ask Dr. Ranzor about it. Not much is known about him other than the ideas he created, all of them except one helped society progress.

"The Silent Project: An attempt to map the Digital DNA Genome. Much like your human genome project, but even more intensive than yours, and met with little if any opposition. Now, mind you, mapping the human DNA genome with the Digital DNA genome is like comparing a corn dog to a bowl of caviar.

"See, the human DNA genome uses a simple sequence of letters. The Digital DNA genome is about 407 times longer than your genetic code, is written in binary code and has to be deciphered, uses a 32 letter alphabet, and is about 6 times longer than the human DNA genome.

"Ranzor developed a way to speed up the process. Normally it would take three hours to decipher a single letter, but he made it now so that it was possible to decipher a whole genome in a week. Billions upon billions of times faster, and as for efficiency?

"Well, we couldn't even create a number for that much of a jump. But with every great idea comes several others that are dark. Ranzor knew exactly what he had done that left his equation without a solution.

"The faster process, called "Rapid Transfer" took the DNA code and physically split it. So now analysis focused on bits and pieces, not how long chains. Something does happen when you split DNA," Flame said with a smile.

"Prions are created. Prions are an actual medical condition when long chains of protein are split into tiny pieces. They are smaller than viruses and the only way to kill a prion is to kill the host. Prions are not alive, but they are made of the building blocks of life. They enter into cells and mess up every function possible, usually resulting in slow deaths that take years to finish off the host.

"Now, this wouldn't be such a big deal, but these artificially created prions were being re-injected into test subjects every day. Many test subjects who had been re-injected died on average 4 and a quarter years later from nervous system degeneration.

"The nerves and spine slowly turned into a liquid. All because of prions and their natural ability to inhibit cell function. Everyone who was a test subject started dying off. Few survived, and those who survived built up immunity to these prions.

"Shifting was born from this. Those little lines of code didn't exactly all return to their rightful places. Holes were left in the DNA; this allowed other lines from other DNA codes to come in. It's not morphing. Morphing is when you change into a different visual state, shifting is when you change states physically, actually becoming whatever you shift into.

"Other shifters who also had holes in their DNA had one other effect. Their DNA began to regenerate, but in a highly evolved state. This explains me and why I'm stuck as a Flamedramon as opposed to a Veemon.

"It so happens that it's just a process the binary code that creates our genetic makeup decides to take. It can either wait for influences from other DNA sources or it can begin to repair itself. My DNA just decided to repair itself.

"Dr. Ranzor began to work on a solution to this problem. He did call it to the attention of our government, saying in one hearing the government held that "It is an unforeseen complication that I am more than willing to work out and have been working on a solution for since our first case of this condition began."

"He kept his word quite well. He did work for several months to find a solution, to help us all return back to our normal selves," Flame paused, but for a long pause of silence.

"Unfortunately even a Digimon's body can only take so much, and Ranzor pushed himself so far past his limits that he died of exhaustion, his death bed being one of the tables in his lab. The worst part was Ranzor knew what was happening; his writing looked as if it was frantically written.

"Possibly he knew at that instant he was dying and hurried to complete the solution. He was only several letters away from a solution, and that solution would never be found. We tried, but couldn't.

"Unfortunately, some shifters didn't exactly come to terms well with their abilities. When something of high value is handed to a being, most will become corrupt in mind and thoughts. Some of the shifters developed what you could call a high energy stress disorder.

"They would hallucinate and this led to situations within the utopia that were deemed unacceptable. The first murder ever committed in the utopia was by a shifter, and many more followed, all committed by shifters. Suddenly, we shifters had become the ultimate threat to society.

"The utopia understood why only shifters were killing, but would not tolerate it. The members of the utopia were crying out for revenge. Driven blindly into what would eventually become their downfall. An idea was proposed during one of the daily government meetings.

"Take a vote of what to do with all shifters. The choices were **A) **Quarantine shifters to certain areas **B)** Begin an elimination of all shifters or **C) **Do nothing. The votes came in, and sadly, the result was nearly unanimous for **B**.

"But how then, could a utopian society kill its own members? Easy: hire outsiders. There was still a small amount of beings who decided to live outside of the utopia, and they were hired to do the dirty work. Shifters were killed left and right.

"Initially it was those who were out in the open, who were well known for being shifters. Others were killed when their friends or neighbors turned them in, and many more shifters took their own lives.

"All of this occurring within a utopia took a toll. Soon there were less than 100 shifters left after early three months of extermination, that's when things began to go downhill.

"To see murder committed is one thing, to see it committed when you are in a society that's principles do not even mention murder causes damage to your mentality, faith and drive.

"I left the utopia as soon as this idea was proposed, well before this genocide began, but there was one distinct reason I can see why we were killed, especially the shifters that were far from being hostile.

"We weren't perfect. In a utopia, everything is perfect, shifters were not, and it threw the balance of the utopia off and caused it too crash. I don't know how it happened, how long it took or what specifically caused the utopia to fail, but it did.

"That was the end of the utopia. An era long gone, oh, you might want to pull over."

"Why?" Jorcy asked, confused by the sudden tangent.

"Well, we're on your street, right?" Jorcy looked around, Flame was right. The car was now stopped in the middle of the street Jorcy lived on. His house all the way down at the end.

"What the…how the…huh?"

"Funny," Flame said, letting a single laugh out, "It's such a violent transfer from the Real World to the Digital World, but from the Digital World to the Real World, it's as smooth as ice. Hell, you didn't even notice it. I thought you would."

"So now what are we doing?" Jorcy asked, still very confused.

"Well, you know anyone by the name of 'Jet'?"

"Yeah," Jorcy said, a smile coming onto his face, "He's my cousin."

"Well, we need to have a little talk with him," Flame said sternly.

_

* * *

Am I alive? _were his first thoughts.

The anesthetic left him feeling groggy and in a fog of thought. He lifted his arm to see if he was okay.

_Heavy, like metal _he thought. He set his arm back down, but instead of the thump he expected to hear there was a loud metallic _Clank!_

Edan's blood ran cold.

* * *

**Thanks for reading everyone! This was the boring chapter that ever story has.**

* * *


	4. Jet Black

Toei Animation owns Digimon. I do not own the Ford Shelby Mustang GT or the GM Saturn Sky Redline, although I wouldn't mind owning any one of them. Any original characters, ideas and themes I've written down in this story are owned by me. Thanks for reading.

-July 18th Session-

* * *

**Digimon: The Silent Project**

**By Jared Head**

* * *

**Chapter 4**

**Jet Black**

* * *

"_**Look in the mirror. The face that pins you with its double gaze reveals a chastening secret."**_

**Diana Ackerman**

* * *

It could have been seconds. Minutes. Hours. Days. Years. Lifetimes. The time that it took for him to work up the gusto to get up and off of the table he had been laid out on seemed to last for all eternity. Now, the next task, find a mirror. 

When found, it took even more gusto to finally step out in front of it.

When Edan did, he was frozen in place.

Different. Was it even him anymore? No, it wasn't, he had been replaced.

Replaced by metal.

His arms had guards on them that start at the elbow and go down to the claws. On they claws they had spikes at the end. The armor he was wearing went back over his shoulders and connected from two to one on his back.

It ran down along his spine, with spikes at equal distances coming out of the metal. He gazed at the helmet now on his head. It fit tightly, very sleek looking. His eyes could not be seen. All of the armor was yellow and black, contrasting with his red skin.

He was no more the Guilmon that had looked back at him every time he looked in a mirror. He looked over at a counter in the room and noticed a black pen lying on the counter.

He bolted over, ripped the cap off of the pen, and began to write in his uncontrollable fashion on the walls.

"_Keep it silent!_" was all that he wrote.

* * *

The red convertible pulled over. The view of the red convertible from the house was obstructed, but was the complete opposite from the red convertible looking towards the house. The house was in clear sight. 

"Hold on a second," Jorcy said to Flame. He opened the door quickly, pulling the latch to pop the trunk. The lock disengaged and the trunk opened a few inches. Jorcy hurried to reach deep inside the trunk.

His hands tightly clutched around the cloth top as he easily pulled it up and over to attach to the top of the windshield. Flame barely cleared the height of the top. Jorcy plopped back into the car after closing the trunk. He held a small box in his hands.

"What is it?" Flame asked. Jorcy ripped the box accidentally, looked at the now ripped box, shrugged, and put the two pieces of what was the box into the center console.

"These," Jorcy said proudly. A pair of high-powered binoculars. Given to him by Jet and now used to watch Jet.

"What do you have those in your car for?" Flame asked with suspicions.

"Research," Jorcy said quickly. Flame let out a laugh that seemed to say, "Yeah right." In the binoculars sights, Jorcy could see Jet exiting the front door rather quickly.

"Well, he's getting into his Shelby," Jorcy said.

"Shelby?" Flame asked.

"Yeah, he bought a new Shelby Mustang not too long ago, he seems to like high performan…," Jorcy trailed off and remembered, "Oh, yeah, you're not from this reality," Jorcy said, continuing to observe.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Flame asked with disgust.

"Oh, he's leaving!" Jorcy said, "So what do we do?"

"Well," Flame said putting his claw out a little.

"Well what?"

"Follow him you twit," Flame said, and proceeded to thump Jorcy on the back of his head. Jorcy's cell phone rang out in its loud, obnoxious arrangement of notes. He had completely forgotten it was even with him.

"Hello?" Jorcy answered.

"What's up Jorcy?" Jet asked on the other side of the line. Jorcy heard the engine from Jet's car roar in the background.

"You on your way home?" Jet asked suspiciously.

"Yeah, I'm still a few minutes out, why?" Jorcy said looking over at Flame. Flame turned to look down the street.

"Really? Why is it then that you've been sitting down the street for the past 15 minutes?" Silence was Jorcy's answer.

"Because I need to take you back," Flame said loudly to make sure that Jet could hear. Jorcy then also heard a stunned silence coming from Jet.

"Tell Flame, I haven't got the time of day for him," Jet said calmly. Jorcy knew the tone that was carried in Jet's voice. When Jet became extremely angry, annoyed, or needed to concentrate quite a bit, he was very calm, almost relaxed.

Jet was in this super relaxed state, and Jorcy suspected it was from being beyond pissed off.

As soon as Jorcy looked back at the house, he could see the red with white racing stripe Mustang racing out of the driveway in reverse. Its shocks gave way as it went from driveway, to the gutter and out onto the street. The tires screamed in protest as Jet started to drive down the street as fast as the gear for reverse would let him.

Rocketing towards Jorcy. Jet swiftly, while still looking backwards to guide the car, turned the steering wheel and the Mustang obeyed his demands. He pulled the handbrake and the car skidded completely around. He smashed the clutch, shifted into the first and blew past Jorcy.

"Well," Flame said, "Let's go and get 'em." Jorcy then quickly turned the convertible around and he gave chase to his only relative.

"We aren't out to kill him or anything, right?" Jorcy asked reluctantly.

"No," Flame said, "Not that I know of."

"That's comforting," Jorcy noted to Flame as he slowed to a stop, turned his blinker on, turned, and continued after Jet.

"Why's he heading this way?" Flame asked, "What's in this direction that could possibly cause him to come out into the open like this?"

"That's why," Jorcy said, pointing ahead. The Mustang was sitting at a traffic light, waiting for the light to change, a freeway on ramp directly in front of it.

"I don't understand," Flame said.

"Okay," Jorcy said, pulling the convertible up to the back of the Mustang, "We have these things called freeways, what we do is we drive our cars onto these freeways. On normal streets, we have these, traffic lights. You have to stop at them occasionally.

"On the freeway, there are no traffic lights, and you can drive faster. To get on a freeway, you go on an onramp, that's what's right in front of us. To get off of a freeway, you go on an off ramp. Maybe we'll see one, well, I hope we do."

"So the point of a freeway is?" Flame asked like a little child.

"The point is to get on it and sit there for hours, just to travel a few miles," Jorcy said, brutal honesty reaching out and slapping at Flame. Flame didn't know what to make of this answer. Was it true, or a true instance of pure sarcasm? He concluded that it was a truthful sarcasm.

The feeling of ecstasy washed all over Jet as he sat in the driver's seat; hand on the shifter, ready to go at the sight of green. He knew exactly what he was doing. He took a long stare up at the rear-view mirror.

"I hope he doesn't think this to be a chase, it's more or less to see if he's got the guts to do it," Jet said to himself. He quickly returned his gaze back to the light. His rush of the "good 'ol days" seemed to be back. He could feel himself becoming completely self-aware, just like in those "good 'ol days".

Memories of those who called it "fake…a clever deception…a cover for the real truth" and other names by which they called this relaxed state he was now once again in.

He watched the light, waiting, anticipating, predicting, calculating when it would change. He quickly eased off the clutch as he began to see the top row of the red LED's turning off. All the rows then quickly followed in sequence within seconds.

Slowly, the green LED's began to turn on. Jet slammed his foot down and heard the back tires beginning to scream for traction. He looked into his side mirror, carefully analyzing everything.

Jorcy's reactions were no match for Jet's. Jet had suddenly become a professional. This wasn't the usual friendly style he put into practice. The two cars raced up the onramp. Jet's car roaring, Jorcy's car whining with its turbocharger.

Jet disregarded looking over to see if any oncoming traffic was pulling up. Jorcy did. Luckily, there was hardly anyone on the freeway at the moment. Both of the two drivers slammed their clutches and shifted their gears. Jet was able to shift quicker, and the Mustang pulled away slightly.

Jet put his car on course to get on another on ramp, this one to a highway. Jorcy followed suit, but only with his nerves on edge. What was Jet running; scratch that, driving away from? Never mind that, the on ramp was nothing but a sharp curve, much too fast for both of them to take at their present speed limit speeds. Jorcy began to slow, but saw that Jet was not.

The Mustang slid into a spin, but Jet quickly corrected, knowing exactly what he was doing. Still in this state of self awareness, Jet quickly took a glace back and could see the back rim of his driver side tire in perfect clarity. Like watching everything in slow motion.

He was truly having a good 'ol day.

The two cars spilled the chase onto the highway and were now approaching the foothills quite rapidly. Jorcy glanced down at his speedometer. The needle was passing the 65. He was now about to break a law, but he did have justification to break the law, so he felt no guilt.

"Now this is some freaky stuff," Jorcy said.

"What?" Flame asked.

"There's also no traffic on the highway as well," Jorcy said, "It's almost like someone was anticipating our chase."

Flame was on wits end. He was terrified for his life. Whatever these machines were, Flame did not like them. They seemed to be made to conquer all, and fear to these was acceptable in his views.

"What's wrong?" Jorcy asked.

"Huh? Oh, nothing. Why?" Flame responded.

"You just seem a little edgy," Jorcy replied with a little concern. Flame was taken aback by this. In all his years of working as a go-to, he never had anyone he went to pick up show legitimate concern for him.

This was the shortest time Flame had spent with anyone he was sent out to pick up, and here he was, already showing concern. Something never experienced before with anyone other than his boss.

Jet decided he had enough. It was about time to stop all of the fun. He veered off onto an off-ramp. Jorcy continued to follow.

He pushed the car as best he could and barely made the off-ramp. Jet put the Mustang into conservative driving, and quickly figured the way to the quickest rest stop.

Jet had pulled off the highway in the middle of no where. What seemed like a minutes worth of driving was actually nearly half an hour.

Time flew so fast, almost as fast as Jet as making decisions. He turned onto a street and continued to follow the signs to a rest stop, Jorcy in hot pursuit still.

Jet then pulled into the parking lot for the rest stop and turned the car off. Jorcy then quickly raced by, thinking he might have lost Jet. He saw Jet outside of his car and slammed the brakes.

The tires didn't skid, but they still made a good deal of noise. He shifted the little red Sky into reverse, and quickly backed down the road and pulled into the rest stop.

"Stay in here, I'll talk to him," Jorcy said to Flame, turning the car off.

"Alright, just be careful, I don't even know who we're dealing with," Flame said.

"I know who I'm dealing with, I've dealt with him many times before," Jorcy said with a smile. He opened the door and hopped out.

"What's up?" Jet asked, leaning against his car.

"I'm kinda wondering the same thing myself," Jorcy said, "It's not like you to, you know, just run away as soon as you see me."

"Well, we all do irrational things every once In a while, now, don't we?" Jet replied with another question.

"Now how am I being irrational?" Jorcy asked.

"Walk with me," Jet said, beginning to walk away. Something was up. Jorcy knew something big was up. Jet usually talked while staying still; walking meant he had some huge anxiety he needed to discuss.

"What gives? What gives?" Jorcy protested as he caught up with Jet.

"Jorcy…I…uh….I….damn it," Jet said with anguish.

"What's up man? Just spit it out. You know I can withstand 99.99 percent of what everyone has to tell me," Jorcy said.

"I just don't know how you could take this," Jet said.

"Look Jet, I've been through a lot in the past day, I think I can handle just about anything."

"You sure?" Jet asked.

"Yeah, of course. Just lay it out for the entire world to see, you taught _me_ that," Jorcy said reassuringly.

"Alright, suit yourself," Jet said.

_What could possibly shock me so badly that… _Jorcy stopped thinking at what emerged in front of him.

* * *

Flame was sitting in the car. Patience was one thing Flame had, but not in times when something needed to be done precisely. Punctuality was key to Flame, and he stressed himself on making sure he was punctual in just about everything. 

Sarcasm was natural to him, like a second language.

On thing that seemed to get Flame more flak than recognition was his intellect. He had studied just about everything that could be studied in the Digital World, and put it all into practice during daily life.

Sometimes he was recognized for his ability to feed out answers rapidly, other times he was despised of as being a "know-it-all". None of this was his fault; he just used what he knew.

He was lead more by logic than emotion. He carefully took into account all details, literally forming equations in his head as to what was occurring and how it could be explained.

If something was unknown to him, he would try to explain it to himself, but would eventually ask for more information.

He craved knowledge, and to know all was a goal of his.

His experience from living in the utopiatic society had taught him why life is never perfect, and he learned the hard way by being turned into a shifter. His agility went far beyond the next best. He was top of class when it came to fighting.

Grace, finesse, stylistic touches, he had it all. Flame's fighting was more of an art form than a tool of defense. Refined after many years, decades even, he always reminded himself that no one was invincible on the playing field; all were mortal, including him.

At the moment, he was wondering what could be taking the two so long. He heard a sound not too long after his thought. What was that? Sounded like a girl screaming, but what would a girl be doing out here?

Soon the "girl" emerged. Jorcy, running in full stride, arms in the air flailing about, and screaming like a little sissy girl.

Flame began to giggle, then chuckle and was in full blown keeled over laughter as Jorcy quickly opened the door.

"Idgit! I! Oh! EEEE! He just told me the 0.01 I can't handle!" Jorcy screamed like a little girl.

"The hell are you saying!" Flame said, still laughing pretty hard.

"Ig…Ig…It's…ahhhhhh….Juh…Juh…Jet, iccc, iccc, isn't, hu…hu…human!"

"What?" Flame said, going completely straight-faced. Jorcy then turned to look out the window again. He let out a sigh that had the elements of a whimper embedded in it. Flame decided to leave the car to have a better look, as Jorcy was blocking the view of whoever this was.

His claws gave him trouble in opening the door, but when it did open, the door closed almost as quickly at the sight before Flame.

All he could think of to react was to aim his claws and unleash his attack. It had been quite some time since he had last had to use his fire, but it was now to him either shoot or be shot.

"Knuckle Fire!"

The flames shot out of Flame's claw at such a high velocity, it was a blur. The flames singed their way through the air to come to a sudden stop centimeters away from the target. The target had brought its claws up and was now "holding" the fire.

The BlackWarGreymon smirked.

"Flame, you've always been right on target with everything, but what makes you think you'll be able to do that with me?"

"Don't think you're going to be taking Jorcy out," Flame said, now walking out and into the open to face this adversary.

Fighting between Digimon was one thing where cheap shots were not made, so being out in the open was perfectly safe.

"So," the BlackWarGreymon said, walking up to Flame, "Fighting in the place of Jorcy?"

"Yes sir," Flame said with respect, "due to circumstances beyond his control, he is most certainly not fit to be fighting you."

"So what makes you fit to fight me, good 'ol Jet?"

"What did you just say?" Flame asked, anxiety by this unforeseen phrase creeping into his voice.

"I said, "So what makes you fit to fight me, good 'ol Jet"," the BlackWarGreymon said in a sharp retort.

"You're not Jet," Flame said.

"Well, let us find out the truth then. Since you are fighting for Jorcy, you get to choose style," Jet said, as was custom in a fight when someone stepped in to fight for an opponent who could not, under certain circumstances, fight for themselves.

In this case, Jorcy was human, no match for a BlackWarGreymon.

Flame let the question asked replay in his mind. He had studied all of the fighting styles used by Digimon, and the BlackWarGreymon seemed to use a fighting style based off of more raw power than anything else.

Of course, there was only one to base this idea off of, but was there only one?

Flame had noticed that this BlackWarGreymon claiming to be Jet did look different from the visuals of the BlackWarGreymon on record.

It seemed to be sleeker with a more refined style. It was as if the original BlackWarGreymon was a first production model and this before Flame was the second generation.

"No attacks, you have an unfair advantage over me," Flame said with respect, trying his hardest not to break the codes of fighting he had been taught in the Digital World. He mentally checked off his list of rules he had learned from _The Ethics_.

There was a book called _"The Ethics"_. Every Digimon studied it and lived by it. It was a book that taught proper etiquette in every aspect of life, but also taught that life was something that was to be experience, and that the rules were put in place for practical reasons.

"Claw-to-claw," Flame concluded.

"Claw-to-claw," the BlackWarGreymon said to confirm Flame's words. Flame nodded, as did the BlackWarGreymon. The two bowed to each other as was custom, and then entered into their fighting stances. Flame realized that this BlackWarGreymon had to be Jet, but he couldn't take any risks, and backing down from a fight was hardly within proper conduct.

It sounded just like Jet, and it was acting in a manner well out of character for the BlackWarGreymon, but it had to be proven, but for now, he knew he was about to do battle with one of the most powerful digimon of all time.

"Jet" was the first to go into his fighting stance. He eased down, bending his right leg to where his knee was nearly touching the ground. Then brining his left leg out, he extended it fully to help maintain balance.

Flame then got into his. He slowly moved in a very artistic motion down into his. Bending his left leg slightly, putting his right leg behind him and bending his elbows so that his claws were both aiming right at Jet.

Flame could tell he might have made a mistake, as the fighting stance of "Jet" was way off of what was written down in the records he had studied. He had been expecting one that showed power about to be used, not a stance for agility.

It was now a waiting game. The only thing that was not governed by custom during a fight was who went first. Either party could throw the first attack, they just had to be ready to dish out or accept the attack. It is the silence before the first blow that is the intimidating factor.

The silence was broken. Flame made the first move. Using all of his might, he pushed off with his legs and flew into the air. Controlled precision at its finest. "Jet" immediately pushed off of his right leg, sending him out of the line of attack from Flame. Flame breezed by within inches of catching one of Jet's legs, and landed sliding across the dirt.

"Jet" continued to the right, cart-wheeling slightly on his hand, landing on his feet ready to attack. Flame on the other hand pushed off of the ground with enough force to cause cracks to develop where his claws pushed off from.

He twisted his body through the air gracefully, like a choreographed ballet of forces and intentions. He kept his eyes locked on the BlackWarGreymon cart-wheeling away from him every time he came within view.

The BlackWarGreymon also kept his eyes on Flame as he stabilized himself in a handstand, watching Flame progress through his fighting style.

Flame then remained in his hand stand, his legs bending back and over his head slightly. Steadying himself, he twisted himself around to face "Jet", who was in his fighting stance he had been in moments before, also looking right at Flame. The two stood frozen, both in fear from each other.

"Jet" had his fear emanate from the fact that possibly this could lead to someone's death. Flame's fear was being fueled by the fact that the BlackWarGreymon fighting style he had studied was nothing like the one he was encountering.

No time to think, as "Jet" now lunged at Flame. Flame then pushed off of his claws, somersaulting in the air. He cleared the amount that any BlackWarGreymon could jump up to in the situation he was in. He was fighting according to the book.

The sound of metal screeching against metal rang out in Flame's ears and was quickly followed by a sudden falling sensation. A cold feeling like metal pressing against his scaly skin confirmed his assumptions.

"Jet" was about to burry Flame into the ground and he held him down while letting gravity kick in. The two impacted the ground, but with not enough force as "Jet" had originally intended to. Flame was being held down by his enemy, and now was breaking loose with a kick to the side of the BlackWarGreymon's head.

The BlackWarGreymon was knocked maybe a few inches, swaying slightly, but then responded by bringing his long, retractable, beyond razor sharp claws to Flame's throat.

Flame looked up into the yellow eyes, knowing damn well it was over. No it wasn't. The BlackWarGreymon held still, the claw most likely millimeters away from the throat. Flame finally let it click. No longer a thought, but now a truth. This was Jet.

"How about now?" Jet asked.

"You're a shifter?" Flame asked, gasping for breath a little.

"Artificial data has natural holes in it. I was able to fill those holes with other data I wrote myself," Jet said, a slight grin coming across his face. Another thing! This BlackWarGreymon had a mouth! A visible mouth! This was far from being the original.

"How can there be two and only one BlackWarGreymon be documented?"

"Oh, see, I'm the second version. The better version. Why have just one BlackWarGreymon when you can have two? See, my brother did develop his own sense of reasoning. They, they meaning our creators, thought that if they made a second one, all that reasoning would go away. All it did was give me and even stronger amount of reasoning than my brother, that's why he was killed mainly; he just wasn't good at making the right decisions."

"Are any of us?" Flame asked rhetorically.

"No," Jet said, his answer not needed but added.

"Hey," Flame slightly yelled out.

"Yeah?"

"You mind getting that claw away from my neck?" Flame asked, carefully moving his eyes down to look at it. Jet let the claws retract, stood up, and shifted to his human form.

"Jet?" Jorcy asked. Jorcy had, in this little conversation, exited his car.

"Yeah, it's me," Jet said, "Sorry I didn't tell you about this." Jorcy fell backwards and into the car with those words, passing out.

"What an idiot," Jet muttered.

* * *

**Yup, Jet isn't exactly who he seems to be, is he?**

* * *


	5. See Them Shift

Toei Animation owns Digimon. On a side note, does anyone know if "Digimon: Savers" is going to be aired in America? As earlier, I do not own the Ford Shelby Mustang GT, although that wouldn't be all that bad an idea to own one. Any donations? I also do not own the ALMS GT championship racing series. Any original characters, ideas and themes I've written down in this story are owned by me. Thanks for reading.

**Note:** I do go back and forth referring to Jet's car as "the Mustang" or "the Shelby". I just thought I'd mention this so you don't think I'm talking about two cars when it's all the same car.

**Author's Note:** This chapter was reuploaded on July 19th as a part of the "July 18th Sessions". For this chapter typos were corrected, paragraphs were resized and titles were reorganized.

* * *

**Digimon: The Silent Project**

**By Jared Head

* * *

**

**Chapter 5**

**See Them Shift

* * *

**

"_**Nowadays most people die of a sort of creeping common sense, and discover when it is too late that the only things one never regrets are one's mistakes."**_

**Oscar Wilde

* * *

**

The intravenous alarm went off. The bag holding a clear fluid that had been slowly dripping down a tube and into Edan was empty. He looked upon it with a puzzled look until he heard what were footsteps. He quickly then jumped back onto his bed and became motionless save for his breathing.

Whoever was walking had entered into his room and began fiddling with the IV. Edan was quickly trying to determine whether he was hearing a friend or foe.

"That should knock him out," the orderly said.

Foe.

In a carefully coordinated fusion of momentum, Edan launched himself sideways, grappling onto a gurney next to him. He used his momentum to bring him around using the gurney as a swing as he swung around to his target.

Sliding on the smooth floor was easy. He quickly kicked and cut deeply into the legs of his target, hitting every major artery he knew of. The orderly hit the ground in complete disbelief. A kill in total silence.

Edan could then feel the piercing stare of someone, and turned around to see a guard waiting in the doorstep, wide eyed and trembling with fear. Edan had decided that every Digimon he encountered in the complex was a foe, and this one was no exception.

* * *

The blackness washed away into the painful reality that is light.

"Sunglasses!" Jorcy yelled, "I need my sunglasses! I'm having a really bad day with my eyes!"

His retina's top layer of tissue began to slowly burn. He thrashed about wildly in a brazen attempt to prevent the sun robbing him of his most precious sense.

Even when he did shut his eyes, his eyelids did little to protect him from the sun. In his thrashing about, he fell out of his car, hitting the ground hard enough to provide facial cuts from the gravel all around him.

He felt his sunglasses placed by someone on his face.

"Thank you," Jorcy said, his eyes blinking as tears not from pain, but too much light came rolling down his cheeks. The blurry world came into focus as Jorcy kept his eyes fixed on the ground.

"Any longer and I---," he said, abruptly ending as he brought his head up. He looked down the barrel of a very large gun with a Digimon holding the other end with both of its claws, and one finger-claw on the trigger.

It smiled back at him.

* * *

"I feel so groggy," Jet said, coming to his senses, "I feel like that mornings after I went on a trip to London and drank that whole keg, man, glad I gave up drinking after that." He looked around and saw Flame standing impatiently next to the Mustang.

"What?" Jet asked, now back to his human self, standing and dusting his jacket off.

"They've got Jorcy and are probably taking him to the Digital World if not already there," Flame said, "Do you think you can drive for about 15 miles to the closest opening?" Flame asked with impatience.

"Can I drive 15 miles?" Jet asked with a faux surprise, "If the Sun can shine, then I can drive 15 miles in no time. Which way?" he asked, pulling his keys out. He slipped the key into the door, opened it and slid in on leather seats.

"Could you do this thingy for me," Flame asked through the window, pointing down at the door. Jet slowly rolled his way out of the driver's seat. He walked around the front of the car and opened the door for Flame.

"I don't mean to be pushy, but you know, Jorcy's life might, and probably is in danger," Flame said. Jet closed the door and then did a slide across the hood. He hopped off and jumped in the driver's seat once again, now closing the door and unleashing the engine, "Can you drive," Jet said mocking Flame.

He chuckled as he threw the car into reverse and floored the throttle, turned the wheel, and eased the car into a controlled spin as he stopped it in the street.

"Yes," Jet said. He shifted the car from reverse to neutral and then into first gear in one swift motion, "I can drive," he said, bringing a pair of sunglasses down from the sun visor overhead and slipping them over his eyes, still in this same swift motion.

"So what am I driving to, or after?" Jet asked, checking traffic from both directions as he pulled out.

"Well, I have only one memory before we were knocked out and that was of Jorcy puling something out of his pocket and saying, 'This doesn't seem to be my cell phone,' and that's it. That's all I can remember."

"Are you suggesting that possible, just possibly, something had replaced his cell phone?"

"No, I'm not suggesting. I know something did," he said, "It had to have been…"

* * *

"A digivice?" the digimon asked, lifting it up to the light. It was one, or at least, an odd form of one. He began to examine it. Jorcy was lying unconscious on a steel table in a clean room along with a few other digimon, including the digimon who had captured Jorcy.

"It appears I am going to be successful once again," the digimon said, clicking one of his guns loudly into its cocked position. All of the digimon in the clean room stopped and turned to this gun toteing digimon. He was leaning over a little while sitting. He straightened himself and with a smile aimed the gun at the digimon with the digivice. He stopped examining the digivice and stared down the barrel.

"Move," the digimon said, "I have special orders to do something."

"Whatever you say Trenzor," the one being aimed at said, slowly backing out of the clean room. Trenzor was all alone with Jorcy.

"Aren't you lucky," Trenzor said standing up, "DNA only. Too bad I can't do the usual to you as many other have had done to them." He was to extract DNA from Jorcy, as Trenzor's boss wanted to see what he was about to go up against.

A rare find during any era, Trenzor was one of only three trichromatic Flamedramon to ever inhabit the Digital World. Unknown, unstudied and undocumented for the most part left many baffled when Trenzor appeared before them.

All that was known about them was that they were a rare if ever seen species of Digimon and if someone decided to make a list of digimon and their power, these trichromatic Flamedramon would be in the Top 10.

Trenzor was a breed that instead of claw to claw combat had somehow evolved to use guns that he carried. The only thing different other than the guns between a trichromatic Flamedramon and a normal one was the lack of gauntlets and long claws.

Trenzor was a genius, literally. He was smart, cunning, clever and used his smarts quicker than anyone alive, which was primarily the reason he _was _alive. Trenzor could kill when told without feeling a drop of guilt, and he hasn't felt anything even remotely near guilt about anyone he has killed.

He does see every opponent he goes up against as an equal with the potential to end his life as quick as he can end someone else's. He has respect for the few, if any, that can out-do him.

Even though he kills, he has an excellent ability at making friends. He doesn't sit back generally; he's the extrovert of a close circle of people his boss keeps around himself. He is also family member to the ill-famed Ranzor, hence his name, Trenzor.

At the moment, he was more concerned about extracting this creature's DNA, analyzing it and then performing the final step or re-injecting the DNA.

The procedure involved using the Ranzor technique of extraction, but since this was a human, only one area would be used to extract DNA, since DNA in a human can be found in an individual cell, while DNA in a Digimon is fragmented and has to be found at many points in the body.

A needle was the trick, and Trenzor knew to be especially careful at this moment of extraction. He applied the proper sterilization to the needle and the area on Jorcy's abdomen that the needle would penetrate. If awake, Jorcy would feel excruciating pain.

Trenzor pushed a button on the machine holding the needle and it went to work, moving rapidly towards the point it was preprogrammed to enter.

The needle was lowered ever so slowly and broke through the skin with no blood exiting. It began the slow, nearly half hour long extraction of DNA. Trenzor leaned over to watch the slightly foggy fluid ever so slowly entering the hypodermic needle. He remembered what his boss had told him about this.

"…_Be absolutely precise in everything you do. One mix up and you could end up killing this Jorcy, which I do not want to see an adversary worthy of our attention to be gone by cheap shot. We are not a group of punks and thugs out to shoot people from behind; we are gentlemen who follow _"The Ethics"

"_Be careful that you do not contact physically with him during the extraction process, as even though you have a skin of scales, those scales can drop off. One of them enters into his body during extraction, and we've got ourselves a shifter that will take the form of whoever's DNA they come in contact with. Good luck my Trenzor, you shall make me proud once again, I am sure of it._

A beeping noise took him out of his remembrance. Something wasn't right, as the beeping indicated.

Eyes opened quickly to reveal blood vessels had burst. Gasping for breath at the sudden onset of pain. He reached out in vain struggle, attempting to grab at whoever was there in front of him.

It was inside of him, an unnerving feeling of something inside of him. It was like having surgery and waking up while your body was cut wide open, every little pain like an alarm going off. In his shock, Jorcy collected himself and reached down to remove the needle.

"Don't," Trenzor quietly said, aiming one of his guns at Jorcy, both claws on it, the other gun in his holster. Jorcy looked up into the barrel for a second time that day. He moved from the barrel upwards to lock eyes with Trenzor.

"Out," Jorcy commanded in an airy voice, "It's killing me."

Trenzor was taken aback. Usually when the subject awoke during the DNA extraction, they went into a frenzy which would lead to Trenzor firing his one and only method of self defense. Trenzor looked down at the needle.

Jorcy was right.

The needle was no longer in nicely, but had tipped over. Where it was at in relation to Jorcy's anatomy meant that the needle had torn through Jorcy's diaphragm. Breathing would cease to be possible. Every time Jorcy took in a breath to sustain his life, he tore his diaphragm further, speeding along the end of his life.

Trenzor knew of only one way to repair such an injury. Clear. That's all it was known as to everyone who used it or had it used on them.

Clear was a fluid that was, take a guess, clear. Pour it on any wound and it would heal the wound up rapidly. All it would usually speed up is the time it took for blood to clot and cell repair in it's beginning stages.

This was exactly what he was going to have to do, except this meant that he was to come in contact with Jorcy. But he was trying to keep Jorcy alive, and his boss would probably say "At all costs keep him alive" if in this same situation.

He grabbed a jar of Clear from the cabinet nearest to him and opened the top of it.

"This will sting like hell," Trenzor said. Jorcy acknowledged with a grunt of pain. The only way to get to the diaphragm was to tear open the skin around where the needle had gone through. Jorcy felt a pain like he never had before in his life.

Broken bones couldn't not compare as the claw tore at his flesh. A sigh was let out because of the little air Jorcy could barely gasp in. His body seemed to lock as his legs lifted a few inches off of the table, shaking violently.

The Clear flowed into the hole, and began to work its magic that has made it a necessity in the Digital World. Jorcy felt a cooling sensation as his pain was washed away. Trenzor had to keep a claw on the flesh he had torn back. Unaware of it, a single scale, smaller than a 1/10th of a millimeter on Trenzor's claw broke off.

It fell through the air currents being generated by body movement and movement of the Clear splashing around. Down it went and landed on a body tissue that for some reason absorbed and broke the scale down. The scale's remnants, now microscopic, entered through the walls of a blood vessel into Jorcy's bloodstream.

The DNA strands began to copy themselves, the inevitable beginning its work.

Jorcy, from exhaustion passed out. The clear had done its job, and Trenzor let the flesh flap back down and poured clear over it. The wound closed up and Jorcy would be fully healed in a few days.

Now it was time to dump him off somewhere. He would remain oblivious to the small complication that would end up shifting several lives around, one rather predominantly.

* * *

"I can't believe Jorcy would have one," Jet said, shaking his head as he waited at a traffic light.

"I can," Flame said, "That's one of the reasons I can here."

"You're a part of the Evaluation?" Jet asked.

"No, just for Jorcy," Flame said, "This will be the first and last time I help out the Evaluation. I've never desired to move that far along in life, I'm quite content with all that I've seen," Flame said, "But as for you, confusion still rings in my mind."

"It's not hard to understand the concept of two BlackWarGreymon's Flame, why have one when you can have two? Two makes it easier to conceal me, and me being second banana," Jet said.

"Not that," Flame said back, "But as to exactly why you end up here and not in the Digital World."

"Well, I got a modern version of what Frankenstein got," Jet said.

"Frankenwho?" Flame asked with a side of confusion.

"Frankenstein. He was a monster that a scientist created and popular culture later began to refer to the monster as "Frankenstein". All he wanted was to be accepted and loved by people, but people only viewed him as a monster, so he fought back to create fear within the people, only ending up to destroy himself.

"My brother's actions turned me into a monster, and then much like in the novel, my own creator began to go after me, then it seemed everyone was after me. I then was told of my brother's death, and went into a frenzy. I began to kill all those who opposed me, many of them thinking I was a resurfacing of my brother."

"But why did you come here?" Flame asked.

"To escape," Jet said calmly, still waiting for the light to change, "I was an artificial digimon, and if I was killed by anyone exacting their revenge, that would be it for me, no second chance. In fact, I'm nervous about returning, since I'm not sure whether the old wounds I tore open have healed."

The two sat in silence as Jet turned onto the freeway to start heading to where the portal was supposedly at.

"So how did you learn this?" Flame asked.

"Learn what?"

"Learn how to control these machines so well," Flame continued.

"Oh," Jet said, a slight smile coming onto his face, "Well, I had a job before I became a pilot. I was a member of the ALMS GT1 circuit, and a championship winner for two years straight. I drove the hardest race car circuit outside of Formula 1. Formula 1 is all about the money; GT1 is all about the speed and the thrill of racing.

"I became the only rookie driver to win a championship, followed by another championship in which I did a near sweep of race victories for that season. Third season began promisingly and promptly ended with a rousing crash that ended my career as a driver for race cars at least. I was going to be telling Jorcy that when he woke up, but I'll still hopefully be able to tell him, right?" Jet asked.

"Erm, uh, well, I would hope so too," Flame said, squirming a little.

"He isn't going to die is he?" Jet asked, looking from the freeway to Flame and back and forth. He looked to the freeway, and back to Flame. Flame suddenly gave a look of pure terror, and Jet looked back to the freeway.

Smoke was rising from a car that had swerved and was now traveling sideways towards the wall separating the two sides of the freeway.

That feeling from before at the traffic light seemed to kick in and he could see everything happening slowly, like he was taking it all in to process everything occurring to him. The front of the car crumpling slowly and the front tire exploding as metal all around it burst through the rubber. The engine spilling its fluids everywhere.

The driver in the car slamming into the airbag, snapping their neck in a manner that guaranteed at least whiplash. The back tires coming off of the ground as the energy from the crash began to lift the car into the air.

The car was still traveling at a good 50mph, and Jet moved his Mustang to the right as he saw a car about to crash headlong into the driver's side of the car going through a crash. A t-bone crash was about to unfold.

The incoming car's wheels were locked up, spewing smoke and leaving a trail of rubber on the ground. The tires distorted as they dragged along the asphalt at such a high speed. Then this car impacted the one already in a crash.

Jet continued his evasive maneuvering as he saw everything like looking through the eyes of a high speed camera. The airborne car was now pushed and spinning, rotating into Jet's path as it came down on the asphalt.

He was in the clear as he pulled around a now twisted heap of metal, but the car that impacted second suddenly came out of nowhere, and Jet once again was put through his paces, now jerking the wheel left and praying he could get inside far enough to avoid this second car.

He prepared to slip the Mustang through with precision that would make his former race drivers even hold their breaths.

The car slipped past the second crashed car with inches to spare. Jet glanced into his rear view mirror and slowed the Mustang down.

He was breathing like a mad man, as was Flame. Flame had grabbed a hold of whatever grapples he could find, and looked like he was ready to impact still.

"You can calm down, the crash is over," Jet said, still breathing rather rapidly. He then glanced up at the wrecks that were cars behind him. Both still as could be. He wondered if the person in the first car made it out alive.

As he was wondering this, he began to see both of the crashed cars moving. They were making a beeline for him.

"What in the hell is that?" Jet asked himself, never thinking that cars, especially crashed ones, would begin to chase after him. Then it all became clear: They must be near Jorcy, and someone was trying to stop them from reaching him.

"Someone's trying to stop us from getting to Jorcy," Jet said calmly as the cars continued to approach slowly, "And they're manipulating cars to make them crash to try and kill us both," Jet said. He looked over at Flame, who looked back wide eyed.

"So what do we do now?" Flame asked, as he looked back and saw the crashed cars moving towards them. He then could feel something strapping him down to his seat. Jet had leaned over and was putting straps all around Flame.

"What is this?" Flame asked with desperate confusion.

"5-point safety harness, I'm getting ready to drive drive now," Jet said as he tightened the straps, "Feel safe?"

"Yes, thank you," Flame said wheezing from the tightness of the straps. Jet put his safety harness on as he watched people now running after the two crashed cars.

"Oh god," Jet said as the two cars increased in speed. Some unseen force was very much at work. He quickly looked for the drivers of the cars as they continued from what seemed to be now half a mile away and saw nothing.

No one was in the cars. Later he would find out that the two drivers were found on the side of the freeway unharmed, but very confused as to how they ended up on the side of the freeway.

_Drive! _Rang through Jet's mind, and he obeyed this thought.

"Flame," Jet said soberly, "I'm about to drive in a similar manner to earlier, but a lot more control oriented, so it'll be a good deal rougher on you and me. If you happen to get scared, just grab on to the handles and close your eyes as hard as you can, okay?" Jet asked, concerned that Flame could end up causing a crash if he began to panic inside the car.

Fear was a perfectly acceptable emotion. It was an indicator of danger, a warning light. When fear turned to panic was what most people mistakenly call fear, and that is also when most people fail to control themselves. For Jet, fear was his enemy, especially behind the wheel.

"Yes, I understand," Flame said, tightening his grip on the handles in the car. He kept his fear in check.

"Let's hope this works," Jet said, reaching into the center console and pulling out a pair of racing gloves. Jet had to have little if any fear inside of him. Both Flame and Jet began to feel their adrenals pumping out their fluid used to help them out in a survival situation.

Adrenaline, nectar of the gods for Flame and Jet in their current situation.

Jet felt like he was being filed with so much adrenaline, that he would begin to sweat out nothing but pure adrenaline. Jet closed his eyes and placed his hands on the steering wheel. He imagined how ridiculous he must look at the moment.

Eyes closed, relaxed with a Flamedramon who was scared out of his wits and both of them in imminent danger. He exhaled deeply.

"Back to GT1" Jet said quietly.

Calm came over Jet, one that he had not felt since his first race, and this caused his clarity from earlier when Jorcy and Flame were chasing him to come back. The world was, to Jet, traveling in slow motion.

He looked into the rear-view mirror once again to check on his two counterparts. One of the cars was driving normally. The other was zipping along on its roof and moving at a high rate of speed. Jet figured he now had 20 seconds to react.

To Jet, this was all a challenge being conceived of by this sinister unseen force, as it was a challenge that put two lives on the line.

Two police cars pulled up to the scene of there the cars had been. One exited his car and gawked at the two cars moving at the Mustang. He looked over to the officer in the other car, and they both exchanged dumbfounded looks.

He got back into his police cruiser, and the two officers began to follow these crashed cars that were somehow moving on their own.

"We've got two cars, unoccupied and appear to have been in serious crashes that are continuing northbound on the I-215, we're going to monitor the situation until further notice," one of the policeman radioed in. They proceeded, kept their distance and only observe.

Both sides of the Mustang now had the two crashed cars on them. The left car began to barrel roll over the freeway surface. Metal flew about everywhere. Smaller pieces pelted the Shelby making it sound as if they were driving over sand.

The barrel rolling car could no longer take the forces it was being subjected to. It harmlessly ripped itself to shreds. Like clockwork, the car on the right lifted into the air. For a second, Jet was confused as to where it was going to land. The freeway or on the two in the car?

It slammed at a speed that was an indicator that it had out accelerated gravity many times. The whole front of the car had crumpled into several inches. The car then began to fall over as this unseen force lost its balance on the car.

Much to Jet's dismay it fell forward. Much to his surprise, the brakes on the crashed car engaged, and he had milliseconds to doge the car as it slowed rapidly.

The Shelby was pushed to its limits. Jet knew that any tire skidding here would mean the horizontal motion of the car would not be enough to get them out of the way. The tires tore at the asphalt, and the Shelby breezed by with inches to spare. Jet let his breath out loudly, relived that the test was over.

He collapsed back into the seat, sweat dripping down from his forehead.

"Jeesh, I'm glad all this chase crap is over," he said, laughing lightly. Back to normal driving for now. All seemed quiet, but two police cruisers pulled up towards the Shelby in a blind spot. The test was far from over.

* * *


	6. A Potent Surprise

Toei Animation owns Digimon. As earlier, I do not own the Ford Shelby Mustang GT. I use to own a p.o.s. Toyota though.

**Author's Note:** Same as in Chapter 5, I do go back and forth referring to Jet's car as "the Mustang" or "the Shelby". I just thought I'd mention this so you don't think I'm talking about two cars when it's the same car. I also go back and forth referring to the police cars. I call them "police cars" and "police cruisers", but they are both the same cars.

-July 18th Session-

* * *

**Digimon: The Silent Project**

**By Jared Head**

* * *

**Chapter 6**

**A Potent Surprise**

* * *

_**"I never think of the future - it comes soon enough."**_

**Albert Einstein**

* * *

The guard stood, looking at Edan in complete silence. 

Never before had he been trained to handle a digimon that looked like this. Edan's response was more proactive. He slid across the ground, kicking the gurney into the guard's face.

The guard's only downfall was his training, based off of _The Ethics_. Edan did not place his beliefs in "silly ideologies". It was one thing to be polite, it was another thing to be polite to a being you are about to beat the living hell out of.

It was contradictory in Edan's mind to fight but follow _The Ethics_; therefore he could care less if he fought dirty.

According to _The Ethics_, Edan had already violated seven laws of conduct.

He pulled the guard up, firmly placed a claw on the guard's arm, and applied a large amount of force. The humerus in the guards arm snapped with a cracking noise. The guard cried out in pain. Edan was dissatisfied. If his eyes were visible, they would have shown the degree of dissatisfaction he was feeling.

Edan placed his claw firmly on the misshapen figure of the guard's upper arm. The guard was feeling pain far beyond anything he had ever experienced. Edan brought his claw up, and brought it down much harder. The humerus broke once again, shattering in two spots.

The pain in the guard was too great for him to maintain control over his inhibitions.

Edan then let go of the disfigured arm. He needed to prove a point to whoever saved him from death by making him a machine.

Their help was not appreciated by Edan and this was his scapegoat.

He considered taking the assault further, breaking every bone in the guard's claw, but he decided that this was enough. Now he was on his way out and into the world. He was changed forever.

* * *

"You told me Jorcy was not to be killed. I simply followed my orders sir." 

"Yes, but there is more to it than what _you_ have done. _You _have barely scratched the surface of the mirror. Either way, damaging a mirror can cause seven years of bad luck according to human superstitions, so half of me being that makes three and a half years of bad luck on my part.

"We seem to have created what we are trying to destroy. Now a new shifter is running about. Not only that, but he's going to be patterned after you. Now number four I suppose this Jorcy will be of your species in the recorded history of all species.

"Regardless, this is now a threat, and one that I know will be potent to us."

"He will hardly be a threat to any of us. He is now in his data conversion stage. When completed, he will be fully data, but still can exhibit and will use human emotions and a human mentality. A human mentality is weak, too weak to be able to control a digimon shifter form. His mentality will simple deteriorate over time."

"True, but until that day Jorcy's mentality breaks, he can be the end of not only just ourselves, but himself, and even the end of this world if _he_ isn't careful," Ranzor paused, "I do not wish this to happen to anyone, but I am giving you special permission to carry out the elimination of Jorcy yourself, by someone else you hire, or eliminating him by someone aiding you as you both kill him.

"He is most likely in the initial stages of shifter paralysis syndrome. So let's kick him while he's down. Pray this is the only time we attack someone unfairly and outside of _The Ethics_," Ranzor said.

"Yes sir," Trenzor replied with a bow. He slowly backed away and departed.

"I tell you," Ranzor turned to his one and only guard, "I have never wanted to lower ourselves to achieve anything."

"Do not worry sir, worry leads to incompetence when competence is a necessity," the digimon guard reassured. The boss stood up from his chair.

"Damn you're good," he praised with a slight chuckle, "In all my years of life I have never heard anyone with such knowledge."

"Why, I know I surely do not pass you."

"Not I," he said, putting a hand on his chest. He walked over to the window and opened it, looking out over the world that lay below the mountain he had built his home on. The beauty of the surrounding area left an ironic musing in the bosses mind. In all its beauty, a killer lives their.

"I'm just a hapless, absent minded geneticist cleaning up his mistakes."

"No sir, you did not make any mistakes at all. Purely accidents. Mistakes can be foreseen and prevented, accidents are unpreventable."

"Still, I inadvertently started a massive genocide. It was not my intentions at that time to have it happen. But now I see it is the first step on the road to becoming Omni. How we all crave to be in a higher state."

"If I could help you out sir," she walked over to him slowly, "I would."

"Do your best at being my guard, that's how you can help out. The last thing I'm sure you'd want is to reach the end only to fall short. If you'll excuse me, I have some sleep to catch." He began to walk to the door, "Good night Aeso."

"Good night Mr. Ranzor," Aeso replied.

She turned and walked back to the window Ranzor looked out.

"What the future holds, I do not know. But I am afraid of the past it will create."

She reminded herself to take a note of that.

* * *

As it began to fall, the air is fell through shaped it into a dome like structure. It continued to fall for minutes until it crashed into a surface, splattering into tiny droplets on his face. 

He lay motionless, completely out of place in the grassland setting. After a few minutes of this light shower moving over the land, he came to his senses.

The rain cleansed the air. Oxygen was carried through the body easier and in a higher concentration during times of rain, and that is most likely what snapped Jorcy back to consciousness.

He slowly reached down into his pocket, feeling for his cell phone. It had taken a new shape that was unfamiliar to him. It seemed to have widened a little, making it a rectangle with softly defined corners.

Two antennas came out of the top. Both could be extended for better signal pickup. He looked it over as he lay on the ground.

It had a camera built into it, probably both still and video. Noticing a line on the side of it, he tinkered a little with it and the device opened up revealing a main screen (wide screen style) on one side and a keyboard on the other.

Pain was his most predominant memory. Pain from the tearing open of his lower abdomen, terror from looking death in the face and a comforting kindness his captor had shown.

He sat up and began to continue to fool around with this new found replacement of his old cell phone.

"I wonder how many minutes I get with this," he said expecting no answer.

"Plenty," a voice answered. Jorcy turned around to see his captor once again, "Trenzor is what you can call me," he said, aiming a gun to Jorcy's head

"Trenzor? Interesting name," Jorcy said, hardly responding to the gun, "So what do you do? Capture people, take them in and scare the living daylights out of them. Then you patch 'em up to go back out into the world? Oh, excuse me, Digital World since that is what we are in, least I'm assuming we are."

"I'm simply a digimon continuing on a path pre-destined for me before I was even an egg."

"You're a gopher, that's what you are," Jorcy said with stabbing honesty, "But goddamnit, I'm thankful you decided not to let me die." Jorcy stood up and onto his feet, Trenzor still holding the gun in his hands, "You were going to shoot me, right?"

"I still intend to."

"Jeesh, couldn't you at least be a polite killer and wait until I've paid back my life to you." Trenzor was once taken aback. No one had ever said to him that they were in debt to him.

"I'm afraid I do not understand what you mean," Trenzor said with a curious tone.

"_You_ saved my life back there. Now, you may be something that my life doesn't need, but I most certainly do owe you my life, signed in my words."

"I never signed in to anything."

"Neither did I, but we both have no choice in dictating this contract and its terms. So if you want to shoot me and void the contract, I suggest you hurry up and aim for my head so it's quick and painless." Trenzor kept the gun up but did not make any motion to fire.

"I will keep your offer in consideration," Trenzor said, putting his gun back in the holster, "For now consider both of us equals. Neither attacks neither. I must go consider the exact meanings that you have implied in this contract of life."

Trenzor walked slowly away.

Jorcy let out a sigh of relief as he felt a sudden surge from his stomach. He doubled over as it turned to pain. He felt his stomach churning and wondered what could cause such a sudden onset.

Without any warning he vomited. It came out of his mouth and oozed out of his nose. His eyes watered and a blood vessel in his left eye burst, sending out a red cloud into the whites of his eye. The contents of his stomach ran out, but his vomiting continued.

He gasped for breath after every heave. What could possibly happen now?

His abdominal muscles contracted and he continued to vomit. With his stomach cleaned out, he began to essentially vomit air. The strain the vomiting put on Jorcy lead to a small blood vessel bursting inside of his throat. It was nothing serious, but as he continued to heave, blood ran out and to the ground.

Every time he heaved, his head felt as if it were on the verge of bursting. The heaving stopped, Jorcy collapsed to the ground. Energy drained and on the verge of dehydration.

_Could this actually be happening to me? _Jorcy thought to himself.

The prions began to form within Jorcy, and they were on the move.

* * *

"God, I need to get some music on, something relaxing. You mind?" Jet asked Flame. Flame signaled "no" and Jet lifted his knees up and pushed then against the steering wheel. He reached back and opened up a CD case. 

"Oh boy, what have we got here?" he asked to no one. He flipped through the case, looking for something to catch his eye. Jet had no idea what Flame's musical tastes were, let alone if he even understood the concept of music.

"You know a lot about music?" Jet asked, driving the car with his knees.

"A little, mostly music made in the Digital World. I know nothing of the aspects of music created in the Real World," he answered flatly.

"Well, let's see if you have some tastes," Jet replied, still looking. Then a CD caught his eye.

"Ah yes, the finest music I can find," he said, carefully removing the CD from its sleeve. He brought it over into the CD player. Flame looked on with a curiosity at what this was. The CD was pulled in and Flame came to the conclusion that this "CD Player" was being fed.

"What will we be listening to?"

"The Best of Richard Strauss. A completely tasteful style of music long forgotten," Jet answered. He carelessly threw the CD case into the backseat and now resumed the proper driving position using his hands instead of his knees. He turned the volume control up and the sound of the orchestra playing a very low note was heard.

Flame leaned in a little to listen to where this sound was emanating from. A lone trumpet sounded off three notes that moved higher on the musical spectrum. The blast from the orchestra's sudden eruption into a triumphant alarm startled Flame.

"Thus! Spake! Zarthusa!" Jet yelled triumphantly in synchronous with the music.

So this was how a CD player worked. Flame had it all figured out. Jet offered a "CD" to the "CD player" and if the offering was enough to sufficiently satisfy its hunger, it would create beautiful rhythms.

Flame sat in proud joy that he had cracked this mystery.

"Well, that was refreshing," Jet added as the symphony ended. He went back to driving with his knees and looking for another CD to use. The sound of a police siren quickly jarred Jet from his looking.

A quick look into his side mirror revealed the police car behind him.

"Oh great," Jet groaned. Another ticket. He already had been issued God knows how many speeding tickets. He glanced again as he began to move over slowly to the right, and saw no one in the driver's seat.

"Even better," he groaned again. The two were still in their racing harnesses, and Jet slammed the throttle. The police car also accelerated, and out accelerated the Shelby.

A second police car came up on the right, and once again, a challenge had been issued. Jet moved the Mustang to the right, and the two police cars followed him. Then to the left, and they did the same.

The two cars went airborne, the unseen force flipping the two cars into the air like a pair of synchronized dancers. Both cars landed with a thunderous crash, causing a whole side of both the cars to disintegrate.

The heavy transmission from one of the cars was ripped out. It floated above the ground as it continued, matching the speed of the Shelby. It dropped to the ground and tumbled towards the Shelby.

It looked like Jet had met his match with the transmission flying towards him. He didn't flinch a bit as the pieces of shrapnel started after the Mustang.

Off the throttle, onto the clutch, shift, off the clutch, back onto the throttle. Glancing at the speedometer, the Mustang was nearing the century mark in speed.

The shrapnel came, and Flame winced expecting its imminent impacts…but nothing came. Only the sound of a roaring engine. Opening his eyes, he could see an open road with a grinning Jet.

"Heh," he laughed, "When you have degrees in aerodynamics and you've had as weird a life as mine, you prepare for anything," Jet said gleefully.

"What?" Flame asked still holding tightly to the grapple-bars.

"I've made an aero kit for my car, self designed since I have a degree in aerodynamics. A doctorate really, but I'd hate to be called "doctor" all the time, that's some load of crap. But I designed the front of the car to create vortices to suck all debris under the car. Worked perfectly."

Flame relaxed a little. Jet continued to wallow in his glory, completely engrossed in the speed he was traveling. But this time of enjoyment was cut short by the sight that lay ahead of him.

"Oh God," he muttered.

* * *

**I don't have a lot to say...well, type. So, you know…the usual…wait, what am I trying to say? Great, now I've confused myself.**


	7. Laying it Down

I don't own Digimon. I wish I did. That'd be nice. I do own all the original characters in my story. I own a nose as well, but that's another very very very complicated legal matter.

- July18th Session -

* * *

**Digimon: The Silent Project**

**By Jared Head**

* * *

**Chapter 7**

**Laying it Down**

* * *

**"_Experience is a hard teacher because she gives the test first, the lesson afterwards"._**

**Vernon Sanders Law**

* * *

Not but a minute away, it came silently to Jorcy. What felt like an eternity to him was occurring in seconds. Everything was shutting down, preparing for sleep. But not the usual sleep of rest. This was another type of sleep. 

He could feel himself being drained of everything ounce of strength he had left.

What was to become of him? Would he ever be found? Would anyone ever know? Who would find him? Would they find him now or later? What would become of him if he was found?

Questions, so many questions. The end of the road answers all but one, and that one is the most important of them all.

This was it.

What would it be like? Light at the end of the tunnel? Falling into an open void for all time? Would his life flashback? Or just nothing. Nothing, in its purest form. But in this time of true terror before his life is snuffed out too short, he felt calm.

He knew the end was not in some far off place; it was here.

This was it. His breathing slowed, his eyes closed, heart stopped, blood slowed and brain ceased.

Jorcy: Zero. Prions: Game, Set and Match.

A claw grabbed on to Jorcy's wrist, checking. After this check was done, the claw gently let the wrist fall lazily to the ground.

"Cheated," Trenzor said.

* * *

Everything felt so peaceful, beyond words. Nothing to describe the feeling to him. Calm. A pure calm never before experienced. 

There are many times that are considered "calm", but this was a true calm. Could it possibly be? No. Not at all, don't even think it.

_You can't be! _he kept telling himself, _You can't be! _

He was afraid to open his eyes. Afraid of what would be there.

What would be around him? Where exactly was he at? Heaven, Hell, somewhere in between? Was this how it was after death? Did he even die?

He knew he was no longer in the Digital World, "Real" World or any world for that matter; he was somewhere else.

Fear kept his eyes shut as tight as possible and curiosity fought for his eyes to stay as wide open as possible. Fear was winning.

What would he look like? Was he even himself now?

Jorcy was caught between a rock and a hard place. He did begin to hear music, faintly at first, but it slowly grew. As he heard this approaching, his fear seemed to melt away.

"Recognize it?" someone asked. Jorcy turned in the direction of the voice, keeping his eyes closed as he turned. This someone laughed.

"Why are your eyes closed?" this person continued to ask.

"I'm afraid of what I will see," Jorcy answered truthfully.

"Why? Do you live your life by everything other than sight?"

"For now I am," Jorcy fired back.

"Open your eyes. Anything you have to fear is not in existence here. Fear only exists as a word here. Unless you live in fear of words and words only."

Reluctantly, Jorcy's eyelids slowly opened. He could see nothing around him.

Nothing. A white void. A vacuum of space. Nothing. No up, down, sideways. No vertical or horizontal reference points.

"What is that music?" Jorcy asked, intrigued by it.

"It is from a man named Leo Delibes. He wrote an opera called "Lakme". This is a portion know as "The Flower Duet"."

Jorcy turned to see who this was, now behind him. He found the person who was talking with him. Startled, he tripped backwards. He felt no pain.

"Where am I?" Jorcy asked.

"Somewhere."

"Where is somewhere?"

"I'm not sure," the copy of Jorcy answered, "I know I am here to help you take this easier. I'm not sure of my purpose completely, but I know it is to be here to help you through this trying time."

"What?" Jorcy asked. His skepticism grew. He kept himself ready, expecting anything to start attacking him.

"I was sent here to ask you something that I will ask soon enough. Can I get you anything?"

"No, I'm fine. Where exactly am I?" Jorcy asked again, calming slightly.

"All digimon die, this is where they arrive after death. Their data breaks into particles and finds its way here. When it all arrives, their data is uploaded into a program that could be best described in your language as a type of "paradise" until they are reassembled with a whole new memory."

"I get the idea of where I am. I mean, I've died, but I wasn't data. So how could I have died and gone to digimon…uh…heaven?"

The copy of Jorcy looked to his side, looking to the "ground" slightly.

"I do not understand what he is asking," he said quietly, and after a few seconds, he looked back at Jorcy, "He says you were converted into data and died due to the unfortunate side-effects of a "silent project" style procedure creating prions within your body. My higher is telling me to ask you something."

"Well, ask then."

"He wants you to help him," the copy of Jorcy answered instantaneously.

"Help him do what?" Jorcy fired back as fast.

"My higher says there is a crisis about to unfold. One that has not happened since the days of the birth of Shifters. The crisis is similar, but is on a grander scale."

"Crisis?" Jorcy added.

"My higher has given me permission to show you." The copy of Jorcy answered.

A patch of grass, about 20 feet by 20 feet appeared slowly, fading into the area around them. Jorcy could see some sort of digimon running to him.

"Not less than a year old, still a child technically," the copy said.

It was running for what seemed to last forever towards Jorcy. A whizzing sound approached and the digimon was knocked over in a blast of red.

"Killed because its mother was a Shifter, which she was killed in front of him."

Jorcy walked over to the digimon's body, now lying on its side. Jorcy caught a glimpse of the head and turned wincing in disgust. The grass faded away and then another sight came up of an area on the edge of a road.

"Individuals were not the only ones killed," the copy said soberly. Several digimon then fell into view in the clever apparition in front of him. Then the barrel of a long rifle pressed up against the back of the head of one.

It fired silently. Blood spattered onto the faces of the digimon kneeling on the ground.

The second one was now in the crosshairs, he fired again, this time saying nothing. Possible noting that this one may have been killed just because of witnessing the first one killed.

The third now was at zero-zero with the end of the barrel. It looked up to the sky defiantly, and then lost all sight as the weapon fired for a third time. The fourth one was approached ever so slowly to add fear into this one's death.

Fear was over as quickly as it had been started. The area disappeared into the white.

Jorcy stood contemplating what he had gotten himself into.

Jorcy was now at a moment everyone has during their life. When the change occurs. No longer going down one steady path with easy going forks, he was now at a dead end that leads to one way streets moving away in opposite directions.

Either way he turns, he will change the course of not just one world, but two.

He knew the choice he should take, but he doubted its outcome.

Few and by far are the people who come to this dead end split in life, and those usually who are at this split are ones with a destiny so heavy, it affects millions upon millions of lives.

Jorcy could feel the weight, and he knew he had to make a choice. He knew what his copy was going to say next.

"Can you help us? My higher may have made everything, but he can not police it, only you, Flame, Jet and one you will meet immediately will be the ones to help us. You four and you four only. Fail and we fail with you."

Jorcy was staring at the ground and now looked up directly into his copy's eyes.

"Fail?" he asked to his copy.

* * *


	8. Changes

I don't own Digimon. Ford owns the Ford Shelby Mustang. I only own all the original themes, ideas, characters and everything else that is original in this story series. Isn't that a kick in the head?

- July 18th Session -

* * *

**Digimon: The Silent Project**

**By Jared Head**

* * *

**Chapter 8**

**Changes**

* * *

"**_Things do not change; we change"._**

**Henry David Thoreau**

* * *

"Jesus Christ!" Jet yelled as the Shelby dodged another car being decimated. Flame wondered who it could have been Jet was yelling for.

"Where is this freakin' exit at?" Jet asked, now irritated that he had been told "15 minutes  
and nearly an hour had passed.

"It should be coming up," Flame said.

"I hope for both our sakes its coming up," Jet yelled.

He was beyond frustrated. Frustration while driving in a high speed situation was not what he wanted, as frustration leads to nothing but mistakes, and mistakes at this point in time are most likely deadly.

"Here," Flame said. Jet yanked the wheel and the car squealed across four lanes of traffic, leaving behind miles and miles of wreckage, and hundreds of confused drivers now on the side of the road.

Jet hit the brake pedal very carefully. The brakes heated up and the car's speed slowed. This was going to be a difficult stop for Jet to complete with the brakes the Shelby had. Normal brakes need extra care.

If the car had cross drilled brakes he could slam them fully. Jet didn't have that luxury at the moment.

He slowly added pressure to the brakes, and they slowly began to glow from the frictional heating.

The Mustang came to a stop at the red light. He couldn't believe the brakes had held up.

"So known what do we do?" Jet asked while wiping his forehead.

A sudden surge of force was his answer; enough to make Jet feel like he was nearly crushed out of existence. He managed the difficult task of moving his eyes. Out of the window lay the realm of colors and vortices.

It was back to the Digital World for the two. Flame's home, Jet's nightmare.

* * *

"We are sending you back, but with a gift."

"And what would that be?" Jorcy asked, smiling a little, "A gift certificate to Cold St---"

"With ability beyond compare," the copy of Jorcy cut off with. An awkward silence came and went.

"So when exactly am I going back?" Jorcy asked, now impatient to get back.

"When you're done being reprogrammed."

"Beg pardon?"

"You're being reprogrammed. All data that dies has to be reassembled and reprogrammed. So we're making you to our specifications of what we need."

"Wait a second, you're changing me just to suit what you want done?" Jorcy asked skeptically.

"In a sense. We're not changing you're free will or anything," the copy explained calmly, "We're changing your abilities."

"Well, just make sure I'm my usual self," Jorcy said.

"Oh, we will," the copy said, a smile that was anything but reassuring crept onto its face.

"So where exactly am I? Well, us," Jorcy asked while scratching his head.

"We is the proper word to use. We are in a realm that can only be reached by the Sovereign digimon, the "Gods" of the Digital World. These four "Gods" were created by the digimon themselves."

"So it's more like a Heaven of sorts?" Jorcy asked, scratching his head again.

"More like this Heaven you speak of?" the copy asked inquisitively, his head tilting to the side in slight confusion like a puppy would at a new found discovery, "Run search…Heaven, find, apply," the copy said.

It continued its piercing stare at Jorcy, who had become comfortable with the stare. It is the piercing stare of a wise and well trusted friend, not one of an unknowing stranger.

The white void changed to a tropical beach, azure sky, partly clouded with cumulus clouds, big wispy puffs in the air.

The sun glared don on the tan sand of the beach. Where the expanse of water meets the expanse of land.

Palm trees scattered across the beach, far enough back so that the water was well away from them. It seemed to be what paradise would be to Jorcy.

The music changed from opera to something strangely familiar to Jorcy.

"Is that what I think it is?" he asked, giggling a little.

"It is what the most common answer was when the search for "Music, Heaven" was run," the copy said, Is this accurate for "Music, Heaven"?" Jorcy let out a few laughs.

""Darkside of the Moon"? Well, to each his own," Jorcy said, laughing at how his thoughts seemed to figure it about right for the Pink Floyd album to be music in "Heaven".

"Good news, you are almost re-programmed," the copy said.

"Well, what exactly am I being reprogrammed to do?"

"Go HEAV," the copy said.

"What?"

"I am sorry, but you are being prepared to leave now," the copy said again, this time a saddened tone.

"Wait, what's changed about me?"

"Nothing much," the copy said, "The only physical change will be your new found ability to shift."

"Shift?" Jorcy asked, concerned at this word he had heard a lot after meeting Flame only two days ago. Was it really only two days ago when all of this began? How time crawls.

"Yes, Shift," the copy said, explaining to Jorcy how one would explain to a child. The copy put his arm around Jorcy's shoulder and pulled him along for the walk.

"Like morphing?" Jorcy asked eagerly, having a "Eureka!" moment.

"No, not at all," the copy corrected, "Morphing is when you turn from one thing to another, say from human to digimon and vice versa. Shifting is simply changing your DNA structure so quickly, that no change is perceived. Morphing has to occur over time or be caused by an outside force being applied to an individual. Shifting occurs instantaneously and is controlled by the individual, not an outside force. Understand?"

"I guess," Jorcy said.

"So now you can shift and be a digimon too!"

"Should I thank you or not?"

"No," the copy said turning, "You can thank him, one of our Sovereigns." Jorcy turned to look and was stunned by the sudden appearance of a flame clad phoenix hybrid in front of him.

"I hate the living hell out of people, but sometimes you have to stoop down a few levels when a Digimon can not do the job. Can I trust you to do it?"

"How's the hazard pay?" Jorcy asked. The flame clad phoenix stood staring at Jorcy, "I'll do it," Jorcy said, scratching that joke of his mental list.

"Good. Go well," it took off and was out of sight instantly.

"Go well," the copy said, extending his left hand.

"I shake with my right," Jorcy said, sticking his right hand out.

"Human custom dictates the right hand is the one to be extended and shook as both a formal and informal greeting. Here in the Digital World and between digimon anywhere, you shake with the left. The Ethics dictate this and it shall remain that way forever, so I'd suggest you get use to shaking with your left hand as long as you remain in the Digital World." Jorcy corrected himself and stuck out his left. The two shook and the copy then stood back.

"Will we ever see each other again?" Jorcy asked intent to get back to this paradise.

"Only in your dreams," the copy said.

He slowly faded away, as did the tropical paradise and the music from "Darkside of the Moon".

Jorcy was once again surrounded by white.

"You are to be re-born in the way that digimon do," a booming voice rang out, startling Jorcy. He began to feel himself being enclosed in something, and was quickly uncomfortable as the white around him began to fade into darkness.

"What awaits me now?" he asked, feeling ready for anything to happen to him. With the support of a Sovereign, what could possibly stop him?

* * *

He had been running for what felt like days, but that was what he was best at. Running, followed quickly by fighting.

Running till he was numb. He felt no hunger. No thirst. No pain. No feeling. No thoughts. Just run. Run away and runaway fast.

Edan had no reason to run, but he did, and could he run.

* * *

Where the hell was he now? In a dark and confined space was all he knew of his present surroundings. Was he? No. That's strange for anyone to imagine. Plus, why would they put him in one? That's just ridiculously freaky.

He looked around and could see something materializing around him, like, particles of something swirling all about. Wait, where was he?

He could tell he had no body, like an invisible man, nothing visual was seen, but he could feel himself there. The particles began to meshing together, slowly building upon each layer that was forming something. Then it hit him.

"I'm being created!" he exclaimed happily. He was being given that second shot at life that many wished they had.

This particle cloud continued to form Jorcy, inch by inch. The process seemed to be taking forever, but if he was actually being given this second shot at life, he could wait just a little longer.

He had died, now he was being reborn.

"I'm the 6 Million Dollar Man!" he exclaimed loudly. He laughed at his silly thought. He knew he was far from a "Six Million Dollar Man". First off, he wasn't bionic. Secondly, he knew inflation would have made the price skyrocket.

His body below his ankles was done and he had shoes on. So he wasn't going to have to scramble to find clothes. How embarrassing that would be to suddenly appear in front of a large crowd of…of…whatevers and be with a lack of…well, oh never mind.

Where were all these happy thoughts coming from?

Did they emanate from the fact that life was once again returning to him?

That a vigorous drive was being re-sparked?

His soul being refueled of all the things life had drained from him over the 17 years he had lived as a normal human being?

What would this be like to have the ability to shift?

…wait…Shift?

Fear grew as it grows when one is faced with the unknown. Jorcy wondered what it would be like to have to shift. Would he be in control of himself? What would he be? Who would he be? Would Flame recognize him? Would Jet also? How would they react to it? Would they even react?

Why was he chosen for this change?

* * *


	9. Edan Intervention

I don't own Digimon, but I do own all the original stuff in my story. There's a simple way to put it. No, actually a simple way would be, "Anything that's mine is mine, if it's not mine, it's not mine."

-July 18th Session-

* * *

**Digimon: The Silent Project**

**By Jared Head**

* * *

**Chapter 9**

**Edan Intervention**

* * *

"**_Those who make peaceful revolution impossible will make violent revolution inevitable."_**

**John F. Kennedy**

* * *

It never occurred to him at what point during the reconstruction he was unable to remember what was occurring to him, but there was a huge gap in time during his reconstruction.

He was back to his normal self, but he did feel a little weird, almost an anxious feeling.

It was a feeling of the unknown.

"Butterflies" raced through his veins as the energy began to flow. At first, he had no bearings on what was going on, but his appearance abruptly changed into something that left him with the mixed feelings that usually were reserved for moments in life that rarely if ever happened; feelings that need not to be experienced together.

Jorcy was bearing the brunt the full force of his emotional overload.

Jorcy couldn't explain it. He didn't think anyone could ever explain it, and he was right. It is a notion that hasn't had any explanation, one that can not be explained as it is occurring, and one that can not be explained after it has occurred.

Then it appeared to him. The tools of his new found trade. He would learn to use them somehow. Use them well. Use them for the good of all…

Thought interrupted. He could feel himself accelerating with such a force that he could feel his organs inside his body pressing against the skin of his back.

He was coming into the world quickly, and he was about to be seen in this new "rebuilt" form.

* * *

Unlike many previous entries, this time, the tires actually hit the asphalt. The suspension lurched from the force and Jet hit the brakes again.

As the smooth stop came and passed, Jet could finally take himself out of his "racing" mindset. He did this slowly, looking over at Flame who was still grappling the handle bar above the window as best he could.

It had been a long hour and twenty-seven minutes, but they had done it. They had outrun whatever was after them and beat it at its own game.

Jet collapsed onto the steering column, alarming Flame.

"Are you alright?" Flame asked quickly.

"Yeah, I'm just dead damn tired," Jet replied as quick.

Flame then made a split second change from normal to exhausted. Flame slid down in the seat as best he could.

"Me too," he said, "Dead…damn…tired," Flame said, trying out this new collection of words.

* * *

The metallic snapping sounded once again in his ears. It had been heard before at a time when he lost his identity and this was the one who had taken that identity. He was once again trying to take it away. But this time he had an accomplice.

"Goddamn you Orida," Edan cried out to the Beelzemon behind him. Edan was down on his knees with his claws tied behind his back, "How'd you like it if someone decided to take your life away just because of the fact that you're a pure? Would you appreciate that?" Edan said, tears welling up in his eyes.

The Devidramon who had accompanied Orida let out a low, menacing chuckle. Unlike other Devidramon, this one was smaller, about seven feet tall at its highest, but it still packed the power of a full grown Devidramon.

"You hear that?" Orida asked the Devidramon, "See, this is why we train you right proper and all," he continued to say to the Devidramon, his accent piercing the air.

He looked back down at Edan, "Well, how would I feel about it? Who cares honestly what I feel about it. Why? I'll never be in that position. Should we care what you think? No, see, no one cares what statistics think, and you're about to be added into a number with a pretty little percent sign coming after it. You understand that?"

Silence from the mechanically re-built Guilmon. Orida nearly laughed at the coincidence of the two meeting up again, and especially just after Edan had been "re-built".

"Heh," Orida scoffed, "Not only are you a shifter, you're a machine, a _fake_ one. That is giving you points, but its negative points that count, so you've lost the game. Now like before, you really won't feel anything. As we did before, I shall open fire, and that will be the last of our connection in this twisted thing we call life." Orida pulled the grip on the chamber back and his rifle was loaded.

The sound echoed in Edan's mind for all eternity. Then the feeling of the cold steel against the back of his head surprised him. The fact that the helmet could transmit feelings was shock enough. He could feel the barrel of the beast ready to strike down it's vengeance on Edan.

Edan shut his eyes as soon as he heard the tremendous bang. The sound echoed off of the valleys and mountains far away from the region. It had to be the loudest noise ever made and it scared the hell out of Edan. A bright light was able to pierce through Edan's eyelids giving him the impression that the whole world was red.

A build up of pressure followed by a brief moment of suction that lead back to normal pressure. He kept his eyes closed. Was this how it was when you were starting to die?

He opened his eyes fearlessly, and saw what appeared to be a digimon standing in front of him, about 40 feet away, and a bright light emanating from it. The light stopped, and he could see the digimon was no ordinary one, it was something he had never seen before, but Orida seemed to recognize it.

"I must be dead," Edan muttered softly at the sight. Never in his life did he think he would ever see this digimon, let alone one this close to him.

"I think we've all snuffed it, we've ceased to exist, we've…badger'd off," Orida muttered with the rifle hanging limply in his clawed hands. The Devidramon understood the whole situation, but as a new trainee, thought it was a part of the test he was going through.

"Are you," Orida stammered, "Are you, are, are…are you a Sovereign?" Orida asked wide mouthed.

Jorcy had no clue what to say. Sovereign? Was he that awesome?

"Sovereign?" Jorcy asked. He knew he now looked like a digimon, but it felt completely natural to him.

"You're not a sovereign," Orida accused, still wide eyed and jaw dropped. The Devidramon watched a butterfly go by and playfully swatted at it.

"No," Jorcy said, "Hell, what made you think that?"

To Orida, he looked exactly like a Sovereign, save for the strange black markings on the guns, face mask and chest plate.

"Meddling in others business eh?" Orida asked.

Edan continued to kneel in amazement, He recognized the black markings. It was as if a savior was sent down from the higher planes to save him. He was gazing upon a HEAV digimon.

A true one in a ten billion digimon let alone that out of a near total of 1.2 trillion digimon only 87 were HEAV's. Now he was seeing one. What a find!

"Meddling?" Jorcy asked. He could feel his grip tightening on the guns. He didn't do that. Someone else was in control. To a point he was in control, but fully? No.

"I think you should know better," Orida said, raising his rifle and aiming directly at Jorcy. The Devidramon made noises that sounded like a questioning of authority, possibly pleading for Jorcy's safety.

Orida took his pin point accuracy eyes away from the sights to look over at the Devidramon.

"This is an imposter trying to pass off as a Sovereign. Right now you've just been handed a wonderful opportunity to kill not just one but two digimon, are you backing down from a test?"

The Devidramon responded, crouching away slightly.

"I don't care what he said, when you're out In the field with me, I'm in charge, I don't care if a Sovereign himself sent down a representative to do something, I'd kill 'em anyhow. So now let us get on with this lesson. Screw Edan for now, he's not our primary, merely a dessert entrée added to this test, our real primary is this imposter before us," Orida said.

"Gosh, all that talking and you haven't tried to run?" Edan sarcastically snapped at Jorcy.

"Quiet!" Orida proclaimed and threw a boot into Edan's face, knocking Edan over.

"Hey wanker," Jorcy said. Orida's head shot back to Jorcy, "You wanna' kick his ass, you're going to have to go through me."

"What!" Edan exclaimed, "I don't even know you!"

"Jorcy," Jorcy said quickly.

"Edan," he answered politely, "I'd shake your claw, but this is the first time he's (Orida) ever done planning in any operation he's done."

"I said silence!" Orida boomed over the grassland, "Now, as for you, Jorcy (Orida's accent would cause him to mispronounce Jorcy's name), I think only one of us will come out on top. Do you fight Ethics?"

"What?"

"I don't fight Ethics, so now do you not only have me on your case, but my little trainee here as well."

The Devidramon made noises of protest and Orida responded, "No, you are not a conscientious objector, you can fight him. Learn to fight, use this as lesson. We shall make him pay for his disrespects to us and you." Again, the Devidramon protested, "Shall I kill you as well?" Orida asked blatantly. The Devidramon did not respond.

"What the hell is going on?" Jorcy demanded.

"Man you're an absolute idiot. You could've run away so many times already, but you haven't," Edan fired away. Jorcy looked at Orida as Jorcy could feel himself losing control of his body. Something else with a more keen instinct on everything was taking over.

"You don't want to attack me Orida," Jorcy pleaded, "Just walk away from this so we don't have to get violent about this."

"No more talking, you either fight or go down yappin' nonsense," Orida said calmly.

Orida slowly drifted into his fighting stance, which he threw his rifle down in the process, and held out his claw like there was a sword in it.

The Devidramon scrambled into his fighting stance which he jumped, landed on his belly and instantly the claws and talons were in the ground. He slowly lifted himself up until the tips of his claws held him up with his arms bent. He kept very low to the ground.

Jorcy then put his guns in his holsters to make sure he didn't have the advantage. Jorcy did not know _The Ethics; _this was just something he did out of wanting to keep the fight fair. All Jorcy knew was a standard fighting stance, like a boxer.

He attempted to do the famous Ali steps, but fell in the process, confusing both Orida and the Devidramon. Jorcy got up and reentered into his fighting stance, well, the only one he knew.

Orida leapt first and landed a huge punch to Jorcy's digimon form. Jorcy was knocked back from the punch. He reeled through the air in surprise and pain. Jorcy didn't expect the punch and didn't expect it to hurt so much.

The Devidramon followed suit and began to unload on Jorcy who was on his back.

"Good, good," he could hear Orida cackling.

Jorcy couldn't believe the ferocity that he was receiving. The Devidramon continued the beating until it slowed up enough for Jorcy to move. Jorcy kicked the Devidramon off of him.

Orida bolted at Jorcy. Jorcy could se the world slowing down and landed his own punch which sent Orida into a cartwheel style spin. It was a punch that could knock out and trip up.

Jorcy had been in fights before with other students at school, but all of those students just went for powerful strikes with little if any precision. This style of fighting required two things that normally didn't go together. Agility and power, and Jorcy didn't know how exactly he was fighting; he only knew that someone else was controlling him.

Edan watched in amazement as he had never seen such a sight. No one that he could ever recall had taken on two individuals in the name of him and he was mentally thanking Jorcy already, regardless of the outcome.

Maybe it could wear down these two dimwits enough to give Edan a slight chance of survival.

A swift kick from Orida to Jorcy's face drew first blood as a few of the razor sharp teeth from within Jorcy's mouth were kicked out. A punch from out of nowhere from the Devidramon into his stomach sent blood spattering out of his mouth.

The blood spattered all over the Devidramon and some landed on Orida. The Devidramon seemed a little disgusted at first but recaptured its focus.

Orida on the other hand had received a sudden surge of energy from blood being drawn. It was like a fuel tank exploding. He knew what he was about to do. It was time to go in for the kill and one without a rifle for once.

Orida sprinted directly to Jorcy, pushed off on both legs and held both arms out. He corrected himself as he flew through the air and aimed directly at the clueless digimon's head. Jorcy only saw the punch coming when it was inches away.

The two claws that had been made into fists hit the face mask, the cheek caved in, the skull let out a massive crack and that was it.

The eyes of the adversary to Orida were closed and stayed closed. Orida stood up and for a few seconds looked upon his finished work. The Devidramon was huffing and puffing for breath.

Silence once again fell.

"Well," Orida said proudly, "Mark me down for one." He turned to look at Edan, "Time to bag number two," he said as he walked over to the rifle.

Edan couldn't believe it. His savior, or the one he though was his savior wasn't HEAV, he was dead. That was it.

As Orida walked over he kept his eyes firmly set on Edan.

He bent over to pick up his rifle, "Well well well. Seems your little friend is now a great main course for me and my little buddy here that do eat their prey. Yes, we do eat our prey, some of us consider it a waste to leave such potential out there," he said, remarking back to the dead digimon behind him.

Edan saw the eye on the digimon he knew as "Jorcy" open. They were a blazing blue color. Edan recognized it and kept as straight a face as he could.

HEAV had been activated.

Jorcy felt like he had zero control now.

When fighting, every organism to a point reaches the level of insanity. This is when fighting is at its most ruthless and efficient. This is the point, in which an organism can kill another as easily as it can walk away, but it doesn't walk away, it prepares to kill.

Jorcy brought his two claws into the holsters and quietly gripped his guns as tight as he could. Jorcy stood up and was ready to fight it out.

Jorcy suddenly went from awkward newbie to professional.

"Orida," Jorcy whispered, barely audible. Orida felt chills run down whatever remnants of a spine he had. He turned around slowly to see Jorcy standing there, both guns by his side. Orida brought his rifle up and placed Jorcy in the sights.

"I didn't kill you did I?" Orida asked as he placed the little red dot over where he figured Jorcy's heart would be at.

"Such a shame to make such a silly mistake," Jorcy said with a menacing voice that was still his but even made Edan question if Jorcy was really out to help him.

Jorcy had deeply changed and was now seen by all three as a sociopathic killer ready to have a little fun.

Jorcy took the two guns in his 4 fingered claws and spun them wildly around, even throwing them into the air and bouncing them off of his head, elbows and kneepads.

It was a circus act, and a somber one at that.

He knocked both of the guns up and caught both of them in sequence, his arms moving in opposite directions.

Jorcy moved his arms out like he was reaching for something with both of them. He crossed his wrists with the guns and like lighting pulled his right arm back and moved the left one forward a small distance. Both barrels pointed at Orida.

Jorcy's mind had determined that the Devidramon was no threat to him and could easily be dealt with physically while Orida would have to be dealt with in a manner that involved those machines he held in his hands.

Machines that are guns. The guns between Jorcy and Trenzor were equally alike. Trenzor had the same exact weapons but these weapons of Jorcy's were very special.

They had black markings on them which signaled Jorcy's digimon from was a HEAV. That meant they were possibly hundred of times more powerful then the originals.

They were huge handguns, barrels at least 12 inches long, but they fired what must have been round twice the size of .50 cals. Only a digimon of HEAV abilities could fire the weapons and handle their massive recoil.

If Jorcy were to try in his now newly named "human form", it would not only just snap his wrist off; it would probably dismember his hand.

The muzzle velocity was off the charts, even by digimon weapon standards. These were high velocity weapons, and now they were in the hands of an amateur. They also had a few surprises about them, but Jorcy decided to let those stay like how they were: surprises.

Orida began to sweat at the sight of those guns.

He knew he might have met his match, but backing down was unheard of. His rifle was based off of a standard .50 cal rifle and he could tell he was more than out gunned by the gaping holes that were the barrels on Jorcy's guns.

Who would move first? Who would dare to move first?

Jorcy had long ago decided he wouldn't move first, but something came over him. Orida made the first move. A tiny move: He pulled the trigger.

Jorcy dodged as best he could and felt the round whiz by him.

It left a burn mark on his side, and Jorcy clutched it with his free claw.

He took the other claw and fired one shot at Orida.

It exploded out of the barrel and this kind of round moved so fast it could not be dodged. It barely missed Orida's left leg.

Jorcy might have the guns, but accuracy he did not have.

Orida on the other hand had accuracy and he fired a second shot as both Jorcy and Orida began to jump away from each other. Orida jumped to the side and Jorcy jumped backwards.

The round from Orida's second shot flew by Jorcy with inches to spare. Jorcy fired his second round and his too missed. Orida fired a third and so did Jorcy. Both of the rounds met up in the air and destroyed each other in a fantastic display of force.

Orida took a fourth shot, and this time he aimed well. The round sliced through the air and impacted into the lower portion of Jorcy's left leg. It broke through the skin and pushed its way through muscle fibers, tissues and blood vessels.

It ran into the bone and was knocked off into another direction, almost a right angle to the direction it came in from. On its way out it too pushed its way through muscle tissues and other such things.

It burnt anything the metal touched; cauterizing any tissue it made contact with.

Then the real damage making factor: the shock wave.

With total disregard for precision like how the round did damage, it tore the flesh and muscle to pieces. It shattered the bone and disfigured anything the round went by on its exit.

Orida hit the ground and was up and running at Jorcy. Jorcy landed and sat up. He ran his claws to the wound when he saw Orida. He knew it would hit a whole hell of a lot, but he did it anyhow.

Orida dived to try and attempt his move he used on Jorcy before hand, but Jorcy knew it this time. A weird feeling came over him again, and he could see Orida's running slowing down. Time was crawling and Jorcy sat there stunned.

He worked this sudden stretched sense of time to his advantage, and instead of connecting to his head, Orida was kicked in the chest and flew over Jorcy.

Jorcy continued in a backwards somersault, grabbed his guns that had been lying behind him and while still upside-down he fired them.

The first time he had fired them, he treated them as semi-automatics, but now he wanted to see if they could go fully automatic.

They did.

He was pumping out so much metal at Orida that even with his inaccuracies the sheer numbers of rounds was enough to have several hit Orida.

One in the lower left leg which also shattered the holster for his rifle. Two in the back and one in the area where the neck met the shoulder. Orida landed like nothing had happened.

Jorcy then in a moment of brilliance decided to try something.

First he shot at the approaching Devidramon, which scared it off. Then back to Orida, who was running on his right and gimping on his left leg to his rifle. Orida made a dive for it, but Jorcy's idea was about to be implemented. Orida held the rifle with his right claw.

Jorcy pulled the trigger, hammer down, firing cap detonated, bullet accelerated, spun, exited the barrel, gases continued to push for several feet outside of the barrel and the shell flew out of the chamber as it was ejected.

The bullet continued through the air, zipping right by Edan's head who had by this time ducked as low to the ground as he could.

Orida continued to go through the air, gravity now beginning to pull him down when the round came out of nowhere to him.

It first hit the thumb and worked its way through the middle of the wrist, going straight through the right claw. Even though it had a small amount of armor on it, the armor was no mach for these guns, and Edan would note that Jorcy hadn't truly gone HEAV.

The round tore through cleanly. The shockwave tore through making a mess.

When Orida landed and grabbed at the rifle with his right claw, he discovered his claw was no longer there.

He looked over at Jorcy, who was lying on the ground, blood still running out of his leg. All he could do was look. Jorcy held both guns in his claws, trembling so much, the bullets rattled in the magazine.

"Go ahead," he said, standing up as best he could. Jorcy also stood up but limped to the left a little. He eased the weight off of his left leg slightly.

"Go ahead; what the hell are you waiting for?" Orida said. Jorcy walked over to Orida, guns still on him, "what you need to do, get close enough to blow my head of cleanly?" Orida asked. Jorcy was finally at point blank range, both guns pointing at Orida. They both stood still for a few seconds, and Orida glanced off to his right.

"Shoot me. I know for one that you don't have the courage to do so; cowards use guns, so I'm in good company with you. No one has ever had the courage to put a bullet in my brain to stop all those impulses from firing, what makes you think you'll be the first and last?" he asked as Orida's eyes saying _"I'll kill you because I know you wont shoot!"_

Jorcy shoved both guns against Orida's chest, Orida back up in fear a few inches.

"I'm not everyone else," Jorcy whispered menacingly again. Orida's eyes went wide. He knew that his words were his last. For once, someone actually had gone through.

Jorcy pulled the trigger to the left gun, and not much was left after the bullet rocketed out of the barrel.

Then in a move that he could only do with time stretched out in a massive amount, he brought the right gun in position and hit the shell that was just ejected out of the left gun like it was a tennis ball with his free gun's barrel.

The shell Jorcy had hit smashed into the Devidramon in one of its eyes. The shell was just freshly ejected, so it immediately burned the eye on impact. Jorcy hit it so hard it was now embedded in the brain of his adversary.

Jorcy had killed two birds with one stone.

Jorcy stood there as his breathing escalated to a point of hyperventilation. He looked over at Edan, who just stared back in awe at him.

Edan tried to say something, but all that came out was the weirdest thing that anyone had said to Jorcy.

"If I didn't know any better when I was in the real world, I'd swear you're Jesus."

Jorcy didn't laugh; he just stood there in shock.

What had just happened to him? Why? When? What? What? What! He didn't get it. It all became to overwhelming to him, and he fell to the ground and began crying.

Not that of sadness of happiness, but that of frustration.

Quit? No, he couldn't quit. He began to slam his hands into the ground.

Hands? He must have shifted. But how, he didn't feel anything, so how did he shift? Oh, does it really matter? What was wrong with him? Why had destiny handed him this cruel fate? Could he possibly, possibly take it away?

Edan stared at this outburst from this newly found shifter friend and could tell something was different about him.

Something strange, possibly based on rules outside of conventional thought that only the Sovereigns could comprehend.

Whatever this shifter was, he was going to follow it by its side.

He wanted to learn and he figured this shifter had a lot to learn as well. It was like he had seen a little bit of himself in Jorcy. Edan suddenly had a moment of epiphany. He knew what was happening to him was also happening to Jorcy.

Frustration and shock.

* * *

**HEAV sounds cool, eh?**

* * *


	10. Breakfast

I don't own Digimon, the DMV (if I did, lines would go quicker), a Ford Shelby Mustang (I wish), a Saturn Sky (I had wished) or anything involving James Bond (...I don't know what to put here...).

-July 18th Session-

* * *

**Digimon: The Silent Project**

**By Jared Head**

* * *

**Chapter 10**

**Breakfast **

* * *

"**_Tell me what you eat, and I will tell you what you are."_**

**Anthelme Brillat-Savarin**

* * *

Edan was amazed at what had unfolded before him. 

"I, I…goodness gracious! I have no idea really how to thank you!" he said standing up looking over at Jorcy. Jorcy could care less.

The hole from the bullet was bleeding slightly now. Jorcy now had learned that injuries carry over from one form to the other. He sat up and looked at the wound.

"Shoot," Jorcy said, laying back down and putting his hands on his forehead.

Edan knew what to do. He figured he had it somewhere as he had already examined the armor that had been placed on him to keep him alive.

The compartment opened and out came a vial of a clear liquid. Edan took the cork top off and kneeled down to pour it over the wound. Jorcy immediately recognized the clear liquid, and associated it with what had happened to him earlier.

"What the hell are you doing?" He asked with a threatening tone.

"It's the least I can do," Edan said and poured the vials contents on the modest wound.

Jorcy's leg twitched slightly in response to the sting of the clear liquid. Within moments the wound began to close up. It slowly rebuilt everything that had been destroyed by Orida's single bullet.

Jorcy sat up and watched in astonishment as the skin closed up. He was mesmerized by the process in which this liquid healed the wound. Then a feeling Jorcy hadn't experience in a good deal of time: Relief.

Whatever had just happened was over. But he had killed two beings he didn't even know. Was this digimon, Edan, that just helped him good? Or could Edan possibly be evil?

"Need help up?" Edan asked, putting a claw out to help Jorcy up. Jorcy grabbed on and Edan stepped back in surprise. Jorcy wasn't the least be sheepish about Edan's metallic

"You look like you can use something to eat," Edan said to Jorcy. Jorcy was catching his breath.

"You can read minds I take it?" Jorcy asked jokingly.

"No, but I can ready body language if that helps," he replied with a smile.

"So how exactly do we get somewhere with food?"

"Well, you have two options," Edan said, "We can either walk there or take your car there."

"My car?" Jorcy asked. Hadn't his car been left back in the real world?

"Well, I'm assuming that's yours," he said while pointing a claw behind Jorcy. Jorcy turned and behold, there it was. Gleaming red with chrome and tan leather.

It was the same car, but it seemed a little different. It looked like it was riding maybe an inch or two lower than it originally did and it had a little lip spoiler on the back.

It clicked: Sovereign upgrade!

He made a note to thank that cranky phoenix later.

"Well, we goin' or what?" Edan asked.

"Sure," Jorcy answered, walking over to the car. Edan shifted to his human self, which Jorcy gave a double take at Edan.

"What?" Edan asked, "You're one too, no need to stare."

"I'm one too?"

"Yeah," Edan said, "A Shifter, eh?"

"Shifter?" Jorcy opened the door and sat in his seat.

"Yeah, welcome to the club." Edan snapped back, opening his door and sitting in his seat, "It was once widespread, but now it's mostly an exclusive club. Membership is free for life. You get a washable tattoo, and outside of the club the world is full of people wanting to kill you. So it makes for some great fun."

Jorcy started the car and moved the gearshift into drive.

"Sounds like a great time, now which way?"

"Southeast, and step on it Jeeves," Edan said, making a joke.

"Jorcy, not Jeeves," Jorcy answered, not making a joke.

* * *

The Mustang roared down the highway. Never before had Jet had the opportunity to do what he was doing: 150 miles of straight road. No police. No traffic. 

Just him, Flame, the car and a growling noise that wasn't the engine.

_What was that noise? _Jet thought to himself, _Tires? No, I just had these put on last week. Transmission? Heh, who's ever heard of a roaring transmission? _Then a sharp jolt of pain that quickly faded.

_Oh, I'm hungry._

"Hey, know any good spots around here to eat at?" Jet asked looking around at the desert.

"I actually do know of a place, but I'm not sure whether or not it's still open," Flame said, "It's been so many cycles since---"

"Well, point and I'll punch it."

"That way," Flame said, lifting his claw up in the direction the road was going. Flame looked over at Jet and tensed himself up, preparing to be hit.

Jet floored it and the Shelby lurched in obedience. The needle slipped past the 110mph mark and Jet continued to keep the throttle on the floor.

The car swerved slightly, but Jet brought it back under control.

"Oh, sorry!" Flame said with embarrassment, "Sometimes I just forget how long my claws actually are."

"It's okay," Jet said, "I never liked my right eye anyhow," he finished with sarcasm.

* * *

The Sun was ferociously burning in the brilliant sky, cooking anything its rays hit that didn't make it a point to find any form of shade. The ground was hot enough to cook eggs, no poached eggs though. 

The arid air sapped the moisture out of anything that was unlucky enough to breathe it in. The desert continued to make it the hard life for anything that was living in the area, if anything was even alive.

Sand, cactuses that looked vaguely familiar but at the same time had an otherworldly feeling to them, and the two lane black top that was a road.

A quick stop afford time to put the top up.

Jorcy complained that he did not have a power top, and dreamed of the day when he could have one. The top was easy to put up, as it took little if any effort. It was just the inconvenience of getting out of the car and doing it, then getting back in and driving.

"God forbid you have to do that," was Edan's smart reply.

Tires revolved around in their precise manner, the ground could not burn these. They were performing their job properly, supplying the traction need to control the car.

Jorcy was glad that Jet had taken the car out a few days before it was given to Jorcy, that way the car had already gone through its break in period.

He wondered if he would ever be able to see Jet again, let alone even see home again. An anxiety he quickly dismissed from his mind.

Engines do not run on moisture, so as it sucked the air in, everything ran as smooth as it ever could be.

Any material object that enters into the Digital World is both converted into data and also has every possible bit of information from any of the real world's internet sources (reliable sources) downloaded to aid in making that object as realistic as possible.

The engine and the whole car for that matter would run in perfect condition thanks to this protocol that had been instated ever since the beginning of the Digital World.

Only one person could comprehend the protocol, and he wrote "The Ethics"

Jorcy was feeling homesick.

Remove a creature from its home like surroundings and they will yearn to be back home. Jorcy was concerned of this. What if he was stuck in this world forever? Would anyone notice him, as he was amazing at how well of tabs he kept with everyone he knew.

Would anyone even think twice about his "disappearance" as being criminal or would they maybe come to a far off hypothesis that possibly he could be in an alternate universe?

"It seems that we both have met for some reason," Edan said, now moving his closed fist out from under his chin, stretching his arm out along where the window goes into the door. Jorcy had no honest clue how to answer that.

"Don't you think so?" Edan asked. Jorcy remained quiet for a few moments.

"I don't know what to say," Jorcy said.

"How can you not? Destiny plans just about everything, no, Destiny plans everything. Our lot is never a pretty one, but we can all take comfort in knowing that our lives are already planned for us. Whether it is fate that we met, now that is the question."

"What do you mean by that?" Jorcy asked, still not truly understanding Edan's words.

"Somehow, I have a gut feeling about what happened back there; that my road in life has suddenly been redesigned all because of your falling from the sky. Possibly by the fact that you randomly appeared, possibly by a form of divine intervention from the sovereigns above, but everything is a possibility, isn't it?"

Jorcy never though of his send off by one of the sovereigns as being divine intervention. He shuddered at the thought of anything involving himself and being divine. The last thing he needed was to be labeled as a being coming from The Big Man in the sky.

He laughed inside of himself a little. The Big Man did seem to have good taste in music.

"Frankly, I do not know what to make of you Jorcy," Edan said, scratching his head, "It seems so odd that something so powerful would just drop down right in my general vicinity at the exact moment I'm to be bumped off."

"Powerful?" Jorcy asked.

"You are a shifter, am I right?" Edan asked. Jorcy nodded reluctantly, "Well, you're form is something I've never seen before. Usually now a days new types of digimon are powerful. If that wasn't enough to drop onto your dinner plate, you have the markings on you of a special type of digimon that is the most powerful of all. They were originally thought to be sovereigns themselves. These types of digimon can literally throw Destiny off track. The last time we had a HEAV digimon was before I was reprocessed, so that would be a large span of time here in the Digital World."

"I still don't get it," Jorcy said, "So why does that make someone like me so special?"

"Well, when your were born, did you or anyone else notice any strange markings on you?"

"Like birthmarks?" Jorcy asked, "If so, I've got one on my---"

"No, like, um, like someone drew them on or something while you were being assembled."

"Assembled?"

"Yeah, all digimon are assembled," Edan said simply.

"I'm not a digimon."

Edan froze. It was like someone had suddenly stopped all movement in Edan, even his breathing stopped for a few seconds. Jorcy's concern grew, "What?" he asked, "What did I say?"

"You're, you're…human?" Edan asked, stumbling over words.

"Yeah, couldn't you tell," Jorcy said.

"I think this might be, no, it can't be."

"What?"

"I, it's hard to describe, but many many cycles before I was born---"

A roar passed by quickly, startling Edan.

Jorcy knew what it was, and sped up as fast as it could keep up. The red with double racing striped Shelby in front of him slowed and Jorcy knew who it was.

He had been found.

* * *

The two cars pulled into the parking lot of the restaurant. It looked a little worn down, but it wasn't exactly ratty looking. 

Jorcy stepped out of his car quickly followed by Edan, who switched back to his natural state of red and black skin with machinery.

He didn't know how his presence would be handled by the others in the other car.

Jet exited first and hurried over to the passenger side, opened the door, and Flame exited. His exit wasn't easy, as someone nearly seven and a half feet with 18 inch long claws has to be careful when doing anything, and the cramped quarters of the car added an extra complication to his everyday tasks.

When Flame was finally out, all four stared at each other. Edan was expecting the worst; the other three were expecting food.

"So, you think you're so special now, that you need to wear sunglasses?" Jet asked.

"Yes and what's your excuse?" Jorcy asked back. Jorcy and Jet made it a long running joke that both of them wore sunglasses a good deal of the time when outside.

"Excuse? Hell, I've earned the right to wear these," Jet chuckled.

"Well, if everyone is done with all the unnecessary talk I'd like to add a little something," Flame said walking to the door of the restaurant, "Jorcy, are you alright?"

"Barely," Jorcy said, "Physically okay, mentally confused out of my mind."

"He saved my life," Edan stated.

"Oh, Flame, Jet, this is Edan, I kinda dropped in on him at an inopportune moment and had to deal with two…idiots."

"More like he saved me from a crazed Beelzemon and Devidramon, both out on a shif---" Edan stopped. He didn't know whether he was in safe company or not.

"I was a shifter," Flame said, knowing why Edan stopped.

"I'm a natural shifter," Jet said, shifting to his BlackWarGreymon self. Flame was about to open the door when Edan let out a scream, pointing at Jet. Flame stopped to turn and look at Edan, Jet looked right at Edan and Jorcy covered his ears.

Edan continued to scream, ran out of air in his lungs, drew in a deep breath, and continued to scream. He did this a few times more, and then stumbled a little.

"You know," Jet said, turning to Flame, "I'm glad that I evoke strong emotions in almost everyone I meet, but I was hoping for more positive evoking, like a big hug or a lovely bouquet of flowers from someone."

"Oh my gosh," Jorcy said, "Do you know how silly that looked seeing a BlackWarGreymon say "Big hug" and "lovely bouquet of flowers"?"

"Hey, everyone, how about we go inside and eat. Edan, no need to worry, Jet here is not the BlackWarGreymon we were all taught was a fearsome warrior, this one is a gentle socialite."

"Remind me to never let you introduce me to any large crowd anywhere for the rest of my life," Jet added. Edan's head was throbbing from the screaming and he put a claw up to ease the throbbing.

He walked in first. Jorcy followed second. Jet offered for Flame to enter and Flame accepted. Jet came in last.

Everyone in the restaurant stopped eating, talking or doing whatever they were doing. One digimon was coming out of the bathroom, glanced at the group that had just walked in and then promptly walked back into the bathroom.

"Flame!" a voice yelled with glee. Jorcy laid eyes upon what he could best describe as an egg with legs.

"Morning Digitamamon," Flame said.

"How many times do I have to tell you, just call me Damek," it replied. Jorcy didn't know what to make of Damek, "Well, I see you've brought some friends along."

"Yes, I did, Damek, this is Edan."

"Well, hello Edan, seems that you've got a bit of a mechanics expert along with you eh?"

"Um, actually, these are a part of my body," Edan said, embarrassed at his appearance and expecting harsh words.

"Oh, forgive me my child. I'm afraid shells aren't exactly great for seeing out of, nor are my eyes; I have to use scent to identify. But do not worry, all are welcome here."

"Damek, this is Jet," Flame said, now leading the Digitamamon over to Jet.

"Well, a pleasure to meet you my dear friend, I do recognize your scent to be one of a kind."

"Well, yes, some would say I look very much like my brother. In fact, I get confused al the time for him," Jet said politely with his usual charm.

"Well, I do hope you get that issue resolved with your brother. I know I'll never get you two confused!" he added cheerfully.

"Damek, this is a very special friend of mine I'd like you to meet, Damek, meet Jorcy." Flame led him up to Jorcy. Damek sniffed, sniffed again, and then sniffed loudly. Jorcy almost laughed at the sound Damek made on his last sniff.

"Is it me, or are my sinuses clogged?" Damek asked, "Jorcy, you seem to have a very weird scent, as it seems to be human."

"That would be correct," Jorcy replied, looking up at Flame.

"Well, welcome! Welcome! Last time I heard there were no humans here in the Digital World anymore, am I correct on that," Damek asked, moving a little back towards Flame.

"That would be correct," Flame said.

"Well, do come and have a seat, follow me gentlemen," Damek began to walk off, leaving them behind. Flame went first with Jorcy by his side. Edan followed, and Jet stood there for a moment, staring at everyone staring at him.

It was obvious that the appearance of a BlackWarGreymon was causing this, and Jet took this time to have a little fun.

He engaged his claws which created a massive metallic screech. Everyone jumped a little in fear.

"I want two things!" Jet yelled. Everyone hunched in fear, "A big hug, and some goddamn flowers!" He then left the room

Damek led them through the mass of tables, bumping into just about every table, disturbing whoever was eating at them. When they saw it was Damek, they then went back to their talking or eating or both.

That's how Damek found his way: bumping into objects and then marking in his mind where they were at. He would try to remember as best he could, but the brain in that shell just wasn't the best at memorizing where objects where.

After a round of bumper tables, Damek found his way into a corridor and led them down it, occasionally bumping into the two walls that led them away from the usual crowd. Damek passed a door and Flame stopped at it.

"Uh, Damek, you passed the door."

"Oh, do forgive me, but it's been so long since you've been in here, I seem to have forgotten where the door was exactly at." He walked back down, faced the door, and then ran into it, fell over and rolled a little.

Flame simply worked the door handle as best he could and it opened quickly to his surprise. Edan helped get Damek back up and going.

"Why thank you," Damek said. He walked through the open door and stopped, "I could've sworn the door was right here, eh, forget it. Well, here you are gentlemen."

The four filed in. Jorcy was expecting a room, but was surprised to be standing on a balcony overlooking a beach. It was where the desert met the ocean.

The weird cactuses slowly dwindled in numbers and some small shrubs began to be the dominant plant the closer to the ocean you went. From the balcony, Jorcy could see just about everything with in a few miles.

"Well, can I get you four anything to drink?"

"Water, please," Flame asked.

"For the one I mistook minutes ago," Damek asked apologetically.

"Same for me sir, and don't worry about the comment you made" Edan said.

"Yes sir. Now for the human?" he asked in a witty manner.

"Uh, you guys got milkshakes or something?"

"Why yes, we do actually."

"Ok, I'll take a chocolate shake then," Jorcy answered surprised.

"And for our unique friend here," he quaintly asked.

"Okay, I'm going to be the complicated guy," Jet said looking around at everyone, then back at Damek, "A dry martini."

"And how would you like it?"

"Well, here's where it gets complicated, can you take this recipe and follow it if I give you one?"

"Sir, I think I can take anything and make something out of it."

"Okay," Jet paused, "Three measures of Gordon's, one of vodka, half a measure of Kina Lillet. Shake it very well until it's ice-cold, and then add a large thin slice of lemon-peel. Got it?"

"Yes sir and quite a fancy drinker are we? I shall return." Damek first hit the wall next to the door and then went out the doorway, the door closing behind him. Flame and Edan both walked over to the railing to gaze out at the view.

"Since when have you been a drinker?" Jorcy asked.

"Huh? Oh! That, heh," Jet shrugged, "It's actually from a book. _Casino Royale_, Chapter 7. You should read it; Ian Fleming is an amazing author. It's the famous James Bond style martini, the one Bond orders himself in that book, and it is the first James Bond book, so that does make it officially a Bond martini."

"So," Jorcy said, turning back to the center of the balcony, "Where's the table?"

Flame tapped the railing and a table materialized moving up from the floor.

"Now that's a neat trick," Jorcy said.

"How'd you get something like this?" Edan asked.

"Well, Damek is the owner, and when you're really good friends with a restaurant's owner, you can generally get a lot of things for a lot less then you usually would," Flame said, smiling a little.

"Drinks have arrived!" Damek announced after the sound of a loud crash. The door opened automatically again and in he walked with a drink try fitted around his shell. Everyone took their drinks and said their thank yous.

"So, what can I get you all to eat?"

"Oh, well, I haven't looked at a menu," Jorcy said.

"Alrighty then, just a second," Damek said. Jorcy felt like he was falling and noticed he wasn't, but a sea of what looked like invisible video screens swooped all around him. They stopped, and a rotary of these screens appeared in front of him.

"Food" he said. Screens of nothing but food were shown. He didn't know why he said that, he hadn't even felt like saying anything. Was someone speaking for him?

"Narrow to cheese." Thousands of screens with dishes including cheese appeared.

"Narrow to grilled." Grilled dishes came up. Now with fewer screens than before, but about 30 were still in the air.

"Uh, grilled cheese?" he asked. All the screens disappeared.

"Grilled cheese it is," Damek said,"Mr. Jet?"

"Uh, how about some chicken fried steak," he answered in a hungry tone.

"Local area?"

"Long Beach," Jet said. Jorcy gave him a curious look, "Local area. Believe it or not, gravy tastes different in Bellflower than it does in Crestline, and Crestline gravy would taste different then Long Beach gravy."

"How would you like your eggs?"

"Scrambled to hell," Jet said to be funny about ordering. They all laughed a little.

"Home fries or hash browns?"

"Hash browns please."

"Alright, thank you Mr. Jet. Now, Mr. Edan, what may I be of service to get to you?"

"Can I get two Belgian waffles with sugar powder on them?"

"Yes sir, how would you like your eggs?"

"Sunny side up, please."

"Bacon or sausage?"

"Bacon sir."

Thank you, and to our final mon of the hour, the worst for last, Mr. Flame."

"The usual," Flame said casually.

"Yes, old habits die hard I see. You want the burger medium rare as usual?" Damek asked with a slight chuckle. Flame nodded, leaning against the railing with crossed arms.

"Mr. Damek, would you happen to know where the closest bathrooms are?" Jet asked.

"Why yes, just three doors down and to the right, and please, call me Damek, none of the mister junk, got it?"

"Yes sir," Jet said as he left the room.

"I'll be back with your orders as soon as they are ready," and he left the room, the door closing once again behind him.

"Funny guy," Jorcy said.

"Yeah," Flame scoffed, "you don't even know the half of it."

* * *

He first opened the door carefully, poked his head in and checked to see that no one was there. The coast was clear. 

He walked in and locked the door behind him. Jet shifted to his human form and took his track style jacket off. He reached into one of the pockets and pulled out a small bag.

He looked around the room as he set the bag on a sink and found a mirror. He reached up and began to pull on the mirror. He did this continually for a minute or so and the mirror fell.

Jet caught it with ease before it even came close to the ground. He set the mirror across the sink and poured out the contents of his little bag.

White powder. He poured out a very small amount.

He took out his wallet, retrieved his driver's license in it and put his wallet back in the back left pocket of his deep blue jeans. He examined his license with intense curiosity. He had never really stopped to look at it before.

The crappy 80's style "DMV" symbol. "_California_" between two of the symbols. "_Driver License…_" with his number below it _"….Class: C….Jet Black…_" a truly original fake last name he thought to himself "_….Sex: M….Hair: Bln….HT: 6-04….WT: 172…_" thanks to all the working out he did as a driver and still continued "_….RSTR:…..Expires…._" and his signature at the very bottom.

He changed the angle at which light hit the card and it revealed the holographic pattern that was put into the cards. It was a security device and one that Jet found rather crude. It used the state seal and the crappy 80's looking symbol

Well, on to business.

He moved the tiny amount of powder into a straight line, cut at it, refined it and then moved it back into a straight line. Now came the hard part.

He shifted back into his Digimon form and was about to attempt to inhale the powder through his nose. Easier said than done with a WarGreymon helmet.

He leaned over, tilted his head sideways and moved his head forward, the front of the helmet pressing into the glass. Moisture from Jet exhaling fogged up on the mirror. On his first try, he got the powder.

It hit his nose with a jolt, more so than he had ever felt before. The powder stayed in his nose, coating his mucous membranes where it was absorbed quickly into the bloodstream. The first wave of euphoria washed over him with a warm, pleasant feeling. What he would feel next was usually up in the air.

* * *

"Sir, I have some grave news to speak of," Aeso said, her voice trembling a little bit. 

"Yes Aeso?" Ranzor asked, turning from the map he had on the screen in front of him. He was wearing his usual white suit but had on a specialized pair of polarized glasses to reduce the glare from the screen. He was drinking coffee from a white mug.

"It's about one of our hired sir. We've lost tracking signal on one."

"Well, who?" he asked, taking a sip. Vapor rose off of the hot coffee.

"Orida sir," Aeso spilled it out.

"Orida? The very best mon we've ever hired has gone off and deserted us?" Ranzor was filled with disbelief.

"No sir. We did send a team out to the last location his tracker was signaling at, and we found him with one of our trainees."

"Well, what did the trainee have to say about it?"

"Nothing sir, neither did Orida."

"Then why are you letting me know this Aeso? Orida has quit, you said so yourself that he was found with one of our trainees. You know our policy," he began to recite, "You are allowed to leave at any time, no questions asked, just deactivate your tracker and we'll get the idea that you've gone and quit. Keep the money and let the quitter go. No use wasting time and effort to kill someone who's made a serious decision. No need to endanger a normal digimon's life."

"Well sir, we've brought him back."

"What for? He quit, so why bring him back? There's nothing here for him to do, especially Orida, he works in the field division only. Wait, is he picking up his motorcycle?" Ranzor asked softly.

"We've brought him and the trainee back for autopsies sir."

It slipped and the mug split into thousands of pieces spread out all over the marble floor. The coffee would leave a stain.

* * *

**Yikes! Someone spilt some coffee.**

* * *


	11. The First Flashback

I don't own digimon. So there.

-July 18th Session-

* * *

**Digimon: The Silent Project**

**By Jared Head**

* * *

**Chapter 11**

**The First Flashback  
**

* * *

"_**You can't build a reputation on what you are going to do."**_

**Henry Ford**

* * *

He fell out of the bathroom. It seemed that this time he might have taken a little too much for his system to handle. No one was in the corridor to see him fall, so for now he was in the clear. 

He stood up as best he could, slapped himself a few times and was back to normal. Euphoria was back but a controlled euphoria. He walked back to the door, and it opened, the mechanics above it humming slightly. He hadn't noticed that initially.

"Well, must've been the big one everyone has in their life, eh?" Jorcy asked. Jorcy seemed to have a hankering for making jokes whenever someone took a while in the bathroom, but Jet kept his composure and waved away at him.

He joined the other three looking out over the landscape below.

"So, what is the exact reason for me being here?" Jorcy asked.

"We'll all find out in due time," Flame responded. Flame knew the real reason. No one else did. Edan and Jet accepted Flame's brushing off of Jorcy's question. Jorcy disliked the simple run-around he had gotten for an answer.

It reminded him of people who run for political offices being asked questions. He planned to later ask it again and demand a full answer.

"I still think this has to be the best dream I've ever been in, you know, seems pretty real," Jorcy said. Flame simply knocked Jorcy off his feet without even glancing over. Jet sniffled and tried to rub his nose. He hadn't been in his digimon form for years, and forgot that he wore a helmet.

"You okay?" Edan asked.

"Yeah," Jet lied. He could lie beautifully, "I'm okay. It's just allergies."

Edan nodded with understanding. Jorcy was barely getting to his knees.

"What am I to do?" Jet asked openly.

"Play it normal," Flame answered.

"Yes, I can just walk in there and play it normal, because everything is so much easier."

"Yes, if you would just drop the subject. We all can get over the exact things that did occur. I can understand running away for a period of time, but running away in hopes of never being found again?"

"There were times you didn't want to be found," Jet fired back. Flame was quickly stifled. Flame knew exactly what Jet was talking about, and he knew Jet had gotten the best of him.

"Violence does solve all problems, but just in a most inefficient manner," Flame said passively. Jet turned to Jorcy.

"How many times has he told you that?"

* * *

"What the hell's all the damn racket?" Jet yelled. 

He walked out of the cave he had drilled into the side of the mountain. He made sure that he was in his alternate WarGreymon form.

The scene was set.

One digimon standing over one on the ground. The one on the ground had a trail of blood along the ground leading to it. The digimon standing over the injured one turned to face Jet.

"Go back in your cave," it said. Jet's eyes were still adjusting to the light.

"Hey dingus, I'm not here to take any flak from anyone, including you, so if you know what's best, I highly suggest you leave before I have to…"

A swift kick was landed to his head and Jet fell to the floor.

Did someone just do what he thought they did? Did that someone even know who it had just crossed? Never mind that, this was war!

How dare someone knock him down outside of the rules of _The Ethics_, it was about time he showed this hot shot, cocky son of a bootlicker what was about to come with him.

Jet lifted his legs up vertically and forced himself into a back-flip with his helmet grazing the ground. He leapt forward, claws engaging and delivered the blow in the manner he had always been taught.

Back of the head where the neck meets the back, that's the area where the spine is the most vulnerable.

Jet's efficiency in this was 100 percent. Every time he used it, it worked, and down went the aggressor.

Now to see the second being.

Tied up and covered in bruises, abrasions and deep cuts. Who ever this aggressor was, he was about to kill this digimon.

He finally recognized the digimon as one he hadn't seen in a while. A dear friend of his that he figured had gone off on some crazy adventure and died.

Flame.

"Well, you always were getting in situations that you could barely handle," Jet said, beginning to untie Flame.

"Well, what can I say? Sometimes when you piss someone off they tend to overact a little. Right?"

"Jeez Flame, don't get me overacting already."

* * *

The food arrived and all four began to eat. 

"So you knew Flame long before you two met up after the chase. So why did you fight?" Jorcy asked in between bites.

"I was always in an alternate form," Jet said, "Especially in front of my dearest of friends," he said with sarcasm.

"Yeah, thanks for the heads up," Flame snapped back.

"Hey, you know, I think you're of the coolest BlackWarGreymon's I've ever met," Edan said, slapping his claw on Jet's back.

"Only one you've ever met," he grumbled while looking at his plate.

"Do you have a problem with my usage of language?" Edan asked.

"Maybe," Jet retorted quickly.

"Really? Enough of a problem to battle it out?"

"You want to battle me out?" Jet replied quickly, putting his claw on his chest and looking up to the sky proudly.

"'Course not, I'd get a royal beating," and Edan resumed eating.

After about a half a minute of eating, three plates were empty. Jorcy dropped his fork onto his plate and it landed with a loud clank.

"Not only can we do pretty much everything better than humans, we can outpace them in eating as well," Flame said, "In some parts of the Digital World it's considered polite to eat your food as fast as possible."

"Luckily this isn't that part of the Digital World Flame; we live in a civilized manner where even this can be considered polite," Jet said with a smile. He picked up a soda can and began drinking it, bringing his head back.

He chugged and chugged as his eyes widened. The carbonation was building up in his throat. The feeling of his throat burning wasn't very pleasant.

He finished, slammed the can down with enough force to crush it cleanly underneath his claws. He lurched forward and opened his mouth.

At first he sounded like he was snoring but he entered into the loud siren song of polite etiquette: The belch.

He stood up as the belch continued. Deep, thunderous and loud. Jet felt lightheaded as he continued due to the fact that when belching one can not take in any air.

It had been half a minute and now Jet was feeling his oxygen-depravation. Edan's delight turned very quickly into a sobering concern.

"Is he okay?"

"Oh, he'll be fine," Flame said. Flame was right and Jet's belch ended with a noise that could be best described as vomiting. Jet put a stop to that immediately.

Damek walked into the room and heard the sounds of Jet heaving for breath.

"Oh dearie me, did I walk in on something?"

"Oh, no Damek, we're actually going to leave now," Flame said, "Jorcy, meet me out by your car, okay?"

"Yeah," Jorcy said. Damek walked into side of the doorway, corrected himself, walked out the door into the wall of the hallway. The Digitamamon turned to go towards the counter.

"Crazy!" Edan said, getting up and leaving the room.

"That's the longest one yet," Jet said.

He tapped Jorcy on his back, "C'mon squirt, don't want to leave you behind."

The room was empty except for Jorcy who was staring at his food. He stood up and put on his jacket. He looked at it; it seemed to have been washed. The black looked like black and the two white stripes going down the arms looked brilliantly white.

"Can I get a doggy bag at least!" he yelled down the hall.

* * *

The man walked very quickly down the hall. He was distressed at the moment. He carried something rolled up, like a poster of some sort. A quick turn down another hall and he continued nervously to his destination. 

The man stopped at a door and fumbled with a card in his pocket. Once he pulled it out, he slid it through a card reader. The door opened automatically.

The room was lit just below the brightness of the rest of the facility he had walked through. The light had a blue hue to it.

"Sir!" he said raising his hand in salute. The man he saluted did not. He had a cigar in his mouth and was puffing at it slowly, relaxing with every breath he drew in.

"What is it that you'd need to bother me at a time like this?"

"I have a little thing you might be interested in seeing," he said making his way for another room.

"How dare anyone pull me out unless it's of great importance! This had better not be a mix up. The last thing we need is our computers telling us the USSR is attacking and it take anyone 10 minutes to realize the Cold War ended nearly two decades ago!"

The two stepped into a small room with no windows. The one holding the roll of paper closed the door, "Sir, it's the EMiRS…it found something," the younger officer said in distress.

"Explain it son," the older officer said gently, hoping to calm the frayed nerves.

"Well sir, at about 1346 today sir, a NASA research SR-71 took off from Palmdale on a mission to see if the EMiRS was worthy of both inte---"

"Wait a second son," the higher officer said, stopping the lower one, "What in the blazes is an E-M, Emi, or whatever piece of junk this is. You mind explainin' it to me son?"

"Well, sir, it does this," he said. He unfurled the rolled up photo paper. It showed a huge peninsula, which the higher up immediately recognized as the port of Long Beach. He leaned in and couldn't believe what he saw. The resolution was beyond anything he had ever seen before.

"EMiRS is short for Electromagnetic Internal Radar System. We were doing a simple test to see how well its resolution could be if it was strapped onto an airplane moving at about Mach 3.2 over a highly urbanized area. As you can see, it worked flawlessly."

"Save for these bright streaks, and might I take a guess what they are?"

"Sure."

"Electromagnetic surges that can be traced to a sudden entrance or exit to the internet. Something no one really knows about or understands."

"Permission to speak freely sir," he addressed to the older officer.

"Son, you know my policy is not that of others. You never ask to speak freely; you go right ahead and speak freely. Do you think the government governs an agency's rules when the public doesn't even know about them?"

"Sorry sir, remember, I'm new here."

"Oh, you're almost broken in. You'll need a few more months and you can start calling me Tippy instead of "sir" and all that other traditional rubbish."

"Sir, these two traces of "living data" are both exactly the same."

"Oh, really?" he said with surprise.

* * *

"I think that the old wanker might have finally found the perfect one. I never expected Jorcy to handle anything on this scale. He could possibly be that one that stands up and fights back." 

"Possibly Jet, but I'm not sure what exactly to make of him. He _is_ a human. Humans can change instantly but at the same time they are damn near impossible to change in a timely fashion. That's the tricky double edged sword part about human nature. It will change rapidly, but the changes won't kick in until years down the road. Right now he may seem perfectly fine with his environment, but longer down the road he could go off on a mental crack."

"When exactly have we never taken a risk?"

Jet asked. Flame answered with silence and a cold stare.

"When we get there, we'll have to nominate someone to teach him, right?"

"Why? If you want me to I'll put a request in for you, I'm sure the "old wanker" will approve it."

"No, you have to do it."

"Me?" Flame asked, "No! I refuse. I haven't had anyone succeed with my training yet, and how long have I been doing this for?"

"Do you doubt Jorcy?" Jet asked glaring at Flame. Flame looked back, "You don't think I know Jorcy's limits? You're the best Flame. You've only had five come out of your training and what did they do?"

Jet looked at Flame while Flame continued his stern look.

"Fine, nominate me all you want." Flame turned his attention back to the counter, "Everything all clear Damek?"

"Yes, I just seem to have misplaced the reader," he said, walking out with the reader on his head. Jet laughed. Flame laughed a little.

His reluctance to train anyone due to the frustration of their outcome was on his mind. Flame required perfection, and only a handful had even impressed him by getting through his training methods.

"You're right. He probably could," Flame said.

After he finished helping Damek they both left, Edan next to Jet's car and Jorcy standing next to his own. Flame exited first and Jet followed.

Jet popped his head back in.

"Next time I'm back here, someone better get those goddamn flowers and a freakin' hug next time! Or I'll start killing!"

Jet went back to normal outside, amused at himself.

* * *

**I'd like a hug and some flowers occasionally as well.**

* * *


	12. Clarity

I don't own digimon. Same thing with the Ford Shelby and Saturn Sky Red Line. Any characters I make up are obviously original, which is just about everyone.

Note: In case you want to know what I call "redline" is (not the version of Jorcy's car, the technical term), hop in a car, look at the tachometer and you'll see a part where it turns from whatever color to red. That's the point where an engine can safely go without being damaged. That probably didn't clarify anything. I tried, so give me points for that.

-July 18th Session-

* * *

**Digimon: The Silent Project**

**By Jared Head**

* * *

**Chapter 12**

**Clarity**

* * *

"_**Without friends no one would choose to live, though he had all other goods." **_

**Aristotle**

* * *

"Well, where are we headed?" Edan asked, shifting to a human form.

"Flame?" Jet asked over the roof of the Shelby.

"Well, Jet, I'm sure you know where we're going," Flame replied. Jet didn't care to speak as he slipped into the Shelby. He started it up and the car awakened with a throaty roar.

"See you two there," Edan said, waving.

"Sometimes I wonder," Jorcy said. Flame was awaiting a continuance of the phrase. Jorcy got into the convertible and started the car.

Flame on the other hand had a task to do. First he very carefully opened the door and with equal precision sat in the car. Closing the door seemed to be the hardest task but he managed to pull it off in one try. His long claws caused such difficulty.

He squirmed to make himself as comfortable as someone his size could.

"What have I done?" Jorcy asked with confusion. He laughed a little realizing how confused he actually was.

"I don't know, how about you tell me."

"No, I don't know what I've done," Jorcy said. Into reverse the car went, "I'm not myself anymore."

"Neither am I Jorcy," Flame said.

"Oh," Jorcy said, shifting into first, "And how would that be?"

"I've become monotonous towards life."

Jorcy's thoughts stopped. Flame was showing emotion, something Jorcy hadn't detected before in anything other than small hints that emotion even existed.

"Well," Jorcy said, thinking of the words to use, "Maybe you should do something about that."

"Thank you Captain Obvious," Flame snapped back.

"Why now?"

"Hmm?"

"Why are you suddenly now having a moment of clarity?"

"Moment of clarity?" Flame was confused.

"Yeah, you have to have had those. When you sit back and realize 'Everything that I have experienced and see right now is real.' They happen a lot more often than you think. You're having one, but about life."

"What?"

"Midlife crisis alert," Jorcy said, covering his mouth and sounding like a government official. Flame was confused.

"What's a "midlife crisis"?"

"You're having a little one at the moment. A normal midlife crisis would be to go out and buy a really fast car or something expensive," Flame looked bewildered, "Think of Jet."

They both laughed.

"But in all honesty, a midlife crisis is just when you realize a majority of life is a waste and you want that wasted time back to use it."

"I see," Flame said, his voice showing he was feeling better.

"Monotonous eh?" Jorcy asked. Flame nodded silently, "Does this road ever get curvier?"

"Well, it is pretty much a straight line to where we're going."

"And that's pretty much what your life has been?" Jorcy asked, "A straight line is smooth, but it takes you to the end quicker. A littler variety lengthens the trip," he said poetically.

"Jorcy, has anyone ever called you a genius about life?"

"No," Jorcy said, "Most people just say I think too much."

He shifted in second and floored the throttle. The car took off like a missile. Jorcy loved it when he did that.

The shifter moved from the left to the right as he shifted into third just at the redline. The needle dropped back down and Jorcy once again placed the throttle onto his favorite place, the floor.

The needle moved slowly to redline and Jorcy shifted into fourth.

Flame was in awe at this hidden power Jorcy seemed to call on.

"How did you do that?" he asked.

"Simple, the engine did it for me." Flame obviously didn't understand, "When we get wherever we're going, I'll explain it to you," Jorcy reassured.

"You know, not only are you one of the smartest humans I've ever met, you seem to also be the nicest."

"Well, I try," Jorcy said, "I try."

Flame decided to go out on a limb with his next question.

"Can you teach me to control this?" Jorcy stared at him. Flame knew what Jorcy was going to say next, so he looked down in embarrassment.

"Of course, just as long as we have a big space with a solid surface, I can teach you."

"Good," Flame said with relief, "because we're headed to a place like that."

* * *

Almost four hours later, they had arrived. Jorcy was nearly asleep when he pulled in.

Trying to stay awake, his fatigue took over, and he fell asleep in the car.

* * *

**Falling asleep behind the wheel is dangerous, or so I've been told.**

* * *


	13. All In

I don't own Digimon. Isn't this disclaimer junk getting repetitive or what? Man, I should just go out and buy digimon and then that way I can at least not have to do a disclaimer anymore…now about getting the money…

-July 18th Session-

* * *

**Digimon: The Silent Project**

**By Jared Head**

* * *

**Chapter 13**

**All In**

* * *

"**_Courage is the price that Life exacts for granting peace."_**

**-Amelia Earhart**

* * *

"So what exactly are these plans suggesting?"

"An attack," Ranzor said, walking around the table, "I'm still in an internal anguish over our loss of Orida and his trainee."

"Yes sir," Aeso replied, "Should I call up Trenzor?"

"You may, but not relating to this planning; I need him to do a special favor for me." Aeso walked over to an intercom and leaned in front of it.

"Trenzor, Ranzor is calling you."

"I'm busy working," he replied over the intercom.

"Trenzor, I need you down here immediately, I have a special favor to ask of you," Ranzor asked politely. Trenzor switched the intercom off.

"I must say, they may be our adversaries, but to attack us takes a strong conviction. Many before me have ignored that fact, but I gladly recognize that they hate me. I am impressed and respectful of that," Ranzor commented to Aeso.

"Well, let us hope that is what separates you from the ones who have failed," Aeso added.

* * *

Mornings were a thing that Jorcy was surprisingly good about handling. But something about this morning told him otherwise. Something was up.

He had his clothes on. His jacket was the only thing missing, but it was hanging on a doorknob. Looking above the doorway, he saw a metal sign attached to the wall. A word was engraved in it.

"Chelone"

He straightened himself up on the bed. He wasn't about to go walking off into some place he didn't know anything about. But what impulse could possibly stop him from doing so?

He decided to get up and move about. Curiosity put in wonders as to exactly where he was. The room was, well, a room with a bed and a door. Nothing else.

A door that had to lead somewhere, right? Only one way to find out. He could hear familiar voices through the door as he stepped lightly.

"Well, I don't know if he's awake yet," Flame said, "He just fell asleep, the strangest thing I've ever seen."

"I'm surprised all of your screaming didn't wake him up," Jet quipped.

"Well, you didn't exactly help out as fast as you _should _have," Edan added, "but it was entertaining as it happened. I enjoyed it."

"Me too," Jet laughed out.

"Easy for both of you to say, you weren't _in _the car."

That's how he got there. Now it all came together!

He fell asleep behind the wheel. One of the three was kind enough to bring him into this temporary room and they must have been waiting for him to wake up.

"How long has it been now?" Jet asked.

"About 45 minutes," Edan replied.

It sure as hell didn't feel like 45 minutes to Jorcy. He was energized. So full of energy he was ready to bounce off of the walls. He then stopped during that thought.

With the way everything seemed to be in the Digital World, he could very well have the walls bouncing off of him.

It was time to walk out into the open, find out where he was and sort through this mess. Maybe he could finally go home. Home.

Home right now sounded like something Jorcy was in dire need of. He was beginning to resent making his decision to "go".

This time it was "go" to open the door. When he did, the room he was expecting on the other side was…huge. It wasn't even a room. It looked to be the interior of a huge, abandoned hanger.

"Well, now he's up," Jet scowled. Jet had changed a little. He didn't have that track jacket anymore, just a t-shirt with what he was wearing before. He looked tired as he shifted into his natural form. He had his mp3 player on with the earbud style phones in his ears.

Edan was in his normal form which consisted of being probably the only bio-mechanized Guilmon. Jorcy came to the conclusion that at one point he would ask him what lead up to him needing the replacements, but in private, where it wouldn't put Edan on the spot or embarrass him.

Flame, well, Flame was still Flame as always. He would probably stay Flame forever.

It was warm, so he took off the jacket and threw it back into the room.

"Well?" Jorcy asked.

"Let's go down," Flame said, walking off to the other side of the hanger.

"Go down?" Jorcy asked, looking at Jet and Edan. Edan shrugged his shoulders. Jet slowly began to move towards the direction of Flame, dancing a little bit to the music.

Flame already had a door into the ground open and was standing; arms crossed waiting for everyone to enter. Edan went first. Jet stopped in front of the stairs, and gave Flame a reluctant look. Flame nodded, and Jet continued, slowly.

Jorcy looked down the stairwell. It wasn't very well lit.

"You know, you might want to get a light or something. Someone falls in there and they can sue you."

Flame was not amused and gave a cold stare through Jorcy, "Alright, I'm heading down," he complained. Flame started down the first step and walked down a few more.

He turned around to close the door behind him.

Rubber squealed against wet concrete. Then a loud thud that ended with a rapid expelling of gasses. Flame knew exactly what it was and smirked a little.

"Someone get a lawyer!" Jorcy cried out.

* * *

"I don't ever remember the hallways being this long," Jet complained.

"Any particular reason we're walking this way?" Edan asked. They were walking two-by two, although it seemed more or less to protect Jorcy.

"Just relax," Flame said turning down a hall. There was no door at the end of the hall.

"So now what? Is this the special effects part of the tour? Where are King Kong and that crappy helicopter crash thingy part?" Jet added in, breaking the silence.

The walls looked to be of some sort of brushed metal, but that's all Jorcy could really think they would be. He had quickly learned to never to expect anything.

All three of them except for Flame stopped. Flame continued until he was a few feet away from the wall.

Flame closed his eyes and Jorcy gave him a weird look. Flame looked ready to vomit and Jorcy didn't want to get caught in that.

A small circular area about 18 inches in diameter appeared. Flame's eyes focused sternly on the circle as beads of sweat built up on Flame's face. Jorcy could never grasp the concept of Flame needing to sweat.

Fire and, well, never mind.

Flame reached his claw out to the circle but stopped when the three tips of his claw were about to touch the circle. A small amount of the sweat began to come off of him as a vapor.

"Hold this someone," he said.

The three looked up and a gauntlet was flying through the air. Jorcy ducked out of the way. Jet dodged the gauntlet narrowly. Edan back-up and caught it perfectly.

Flame inserted the long tips of his right claw into three slots and began to spin the wall inside of the circular area. He rolled his eyes, trying his hardest to remember the combination.

Jorcy looked on curiously. Edan was in the initial stages of discovery. Jet knew exactly what Flame was doing: Flame was opening a lock.

Jet had used it before when it was interchange able between a Flamedramon claw and a WarGreymon claw. Those where the days of secrecy for Jet. He grinned.

Flame took extreme caution, but at the same time, he moved his wrist at speeds that caused his wrist to be a blur. Sometimes he would near several hundred twitches with his wrist in a burst, but he tried to maintain a set speed.

Concentration levels were literally mind numbing. All he could do was focus on opening the lock. So much focus that control over most things was lost. His eyes lazily looked up at the ceiling.

_Click! Click! _was followed by some quiet mechanical whirring. Hydraulic motors opened a huge metal door and air rushed in to help equalize pressure. Edan threw the gauntlet.

Flame didn't bother to catch the gauntlet; he had precisely slipped the long claws through the opening. He adjusted it to fit comfortably.

Everyone walked into the huge room at once. The air wasn't heavy at all, it was dry. Very dry. The hum of dehumidifiers could be heard in the ambiance.

The room reminded Jorcy of space: black and no apparent ending on the side that faced away from the door and the sides of the room…_if_ there was another side to anything.

"I'm back," Flame said simply.

"I know," someone in the darkness said. Jorcy looked all around and could find no one. Slowly a body slipped out of the darkness and into the lights that lit up the room that led to the great expanse.

It was an old man dressed in the highest quality of suits Jorcy had ever seen, and he looked remarkably similar to Albert Einstein. Edan recoiled in happy surprise at the appearance of the old man.

Jet began the motion of sitting. A chair appeared from out of nowhere. Jet was about to slow his descent into the chair when he fell backwards and sprawled out on the floor.

The chair wasn't behind Jet. It was right next to him.

Flame respectfully bowed and walked to the old man.

"Well, did it work?" the old man asked. He had a voice that was like that of someone who cared for everyone. He sounded wise, maybe even all-knowing, but that was putting too little of pressure on the old man to think that.

"Yes," Flame said, gesturing towards Jorcy. Jorcy thought the old man looked like a symphony conductor in the suit he was wearing.

He didn't exactly know how to describe the suit. It was like a trench coat, but it wasn't as suspicious looking like a trench coat was. It was one-of-a-kind Jorcy concluded silently.

"Jorcy," the old man smiled, "Have we been expecting you for quite some time now," he said, briskly walking over and extending his left hand. Jorcy took it and gave a firm shake, as did the old man.

When he released his hand, the old man brought both of his hands onto Jorcy's shoulders and looked over him.

Jorcy was thinking that with the way the old man was looking at him, that he was this old man's long lost grandson.

"Perfect!" he exclaimed, turning to Flame, "Flame, I have to say, you just can't get any better than the performance you just put into this."

"I think I can go farther sir," Flame said proudly.

"Have a seat," he said, "All three of you may have a seat," he turned and noticed Jet.

"Hi," Jet said sheepishly. The expression on the old man's face changed rapidly from jubilance to surprise.

"Well, hello there Mr. Jet," he said, Jet was still sprawled out over the floor, "Long time no see indeed. Looks like Flame picked up a little extra on his way back, didn't he? You can have a seat; I think the floor is quite acquainted with you now."

Jet took his seat as three other seats appeared.

"I'll work in the order you're sitting in," the old man nearly laughed.

"Gennai," Flame asked, Jorcy could now put a name to a face. This Gennai was very different from watch Jorcy remembered about the series, "Jorcy has contracted an issue."

"And that will be a problem?" he asked already sitting.

"Something has happened to him, and I think we could very well have the ability to shift."

Gennai stopped writing and glanced up at Jorcy. He then went back to scribbling on a clipboard like device. It enabled him to take notes and download them for his reviewing

"His issue will work to our advantage. You think I was just going to accept someone who was, well, no offense Jorcy, human?" Gennai said with a grin.

"What exactly is that suppose to mean?" Jorcy asked. He now suddenly was skeptical of this impromptu meeting, "You don't even look like the Gennai I remember," he prodded.

"I must say nothing of the version of me in the series. I am not a cartoon Jorcy; I am a digimon and nothing more. _They _made me into a cartoon."

"I thought you were human," Jorcy prodded again.

"Inquisitive little one, isn't he? I can see why you picked him out Flame," he mused. Flame glanced at Jorcy, then back at Gennai, "I am a digimon with no abilities and no level. I am a digimon none the less. That's all you or anyone in the Digital World can comprehend. As for now, I will start with Jet."

Jet sat up straight when he heard his name, facing what could be his ultimate demise.

"You know what we do to runners, right Jet?" Gennai said still scribbling.

"Yes sir," Jet said, knowing what was coming.

"We take them into a transfer and throw them off into the void where they stay for the rest of their lives, or until they succumb to energy loss," Gennai continued. He didn't even care to look up at Jet as he continued to take notes.

Jet knew this was it.

The fear and regret in Jet's eyes could be seen by everyone in the room. Jorcy was ready to defend Jet, even if it meant losing his life along with Jet, as he assumed that was what was about to occur to him.

"Well," Gennai stopped and looked up, "You obviously don't know what we actually do to runners," he smiled, "We never do that to runners that aren't enemies."

Gennai burst into laughter. Flame began to laugh as well. Edan laughed a little. Jet laughed a little to help bleed off his anxiety. Jorcy let out a few forced laughs.

"Jet, you're always welcome here," he said warmly, "I was even going to have Flame go back to bring you here. To destroy an asset such as yourself would be a terrible waste."

"Why?" Jet asked.

"Someone needs to teach "The Ethics" for me. I am, believe it or not, very old."

"I guess I can do it," Jet said with relief.

"I wouldn't have asked anyone else to teach it," Gennai said smiling even bigger, "And who would this be?"

"Edan, sir," Edan stated loudly.

"Well Mr. Edan, it appears that I will have to create a position for you."

"Thank you sir," Edan said pleasantly.

"We'll get you a placement system right away," Gennai said, looking over to Flame, "I'm already done with you," he joked to Flame, flipping his wrist at Flame as if to brush him away. Gennai chuckled a little.

"Oh, Jorcy," he sighed.

"Oh, Gennai," Jorcy sighed.

"Yes, it appears that you might be able to be trained."

"Well, I can already sit, stay, roll over and play dead," Jorcy fired off.

"Well, we're planning on teaching you to sit pretty, stay from a distance and play dead with your biological systems and find a proper flow for you. So I'd say we're more or less improving on the pooch you already are," he mused.

"So, what's going to be done to me?"

"Well, we're going to run some tests and then determine from those what to do with you. You will be having class…" Jorcy groaned interrupting Gennai, "But they'll be taught by Jet, which apparently you are related to. Strange," he gestured with his bushy eyebrows, "well Jorcy, I just have to ask you one more thing."

"Go ahead," Jorcy said, leaning back in the chair and crossing his arms behind his head. He was relaxing.

"Jorcy, are you willing to go all in? You realize that it could be weeks, months and years before any of this is done. You also have the risk of being killed here, and that would be the end of that. So now I have to ask you, are you willing to help us out in our cause to help prevent another mass genocide of any types of digimon?"

Jorcy gave the question thought. He knew what he was in for whether he accepted or not.

"All in? Count me in."

* * *

**And so the real story finally begins...**


	14. Have Your Fun

Digimon own not do I. that owns Prodrive, P2 Prodrive the own not do also I. Story the enjoy!

-July 18th Sessions-

* * *

**Digimon: The Silent Project**

**By Jared Head**

* * *

**Chapter 14**

**Have Your Fun**

* * *

"**_Not a shred of evidence exists in favor of the idea that life is serious."_**

**Brendan Gill**

* * *

After the meeting, Gennai told everyone to take the next day off and the day after tomorrow was to be the first training day. Jorcy and Jet had a "learning" day on everyone else's off day.

Flame, Jorcy and Edan left the meeting right out. Jet stayed behind to discuss something with Gennai.

Jorcy walked to his temporary room, threw his jacket onto a chair in the room and collapsed onto the bed. Sleep was nearly instantaneous.

* * *

He lined himself up properly as he had done back at the restaurant. This time it was a little harder. The bathrooms at Chelone weren't as big as the restaurant.

Inhaling deeply, the white powder zipped up the small hollowed-out pen. The metal worked perfectly to bring the product up to the customer. It hit Jet again, and he wasn't planning on stopping like last time.

As soon as the powder hit the membranes, everything went off like fireworks.

Finishing the last of several lines, Jet felt better than ever. He shifted back to his human form, which lazily looked in the mirror.

He smiled back at his own reflection with a hauntingly silly satisfaction. The window next to the mirror was still dark. Sun wasn't up yet, but that didn't mean he couldn't prepare the lesson plan for Jorcy. Thank God Gennai let Jet work a little bit of his program-writing be allowed to help aid in the upcoming lesson.

He opened the door, sniffling a little. Looking back he absorbed it all and turned the light switch into the "off" position.

* * *

Nice, quiet slumber could describe the last eight hours for Jorcy. While sleeping, the subconscious mind will take sounds from the surrounding environment and incorporate them into dreams during the stages of sleeping. The loud roar that traveled upwards in pitch was reluctantly handed over to a blender. The sound of a small explosion was fruit being squeezed into juice.

This dream could best be described as being produced, written and directed by the avant-garde portion of Jorcy's mind.

"Jorcy!" someone whispered. Jorcy made a noise that sounded like snarling.

"Jorcy!" they whispered again. This time the human coughed a little.

"What?" he asked.

"Jorcy, I think we're under attack!" Flame whispered again.

"What?"

"Jorcy, I think we're under attack!"

Another small explosion followed by a rumbling of something overhead. Jorcy was up instantly, grabbing his jacket. Flame was already making the mad dash up the stairs. Jorcy followed Flame, but he wasn't exactly as fast as Flame for the obvious reasons.

"Hop in."

* * *

"So what does this have to do with me?" Jorcy asked. Jorcy was sitting on the left side, with Jet driving in the right seat. Jet loved to drive in the left-hand drive position.

"Although this may seem like a strange method, it serves a purpose," Jet said, shifting up a gear.

"And that would be?"

"Well, it serves several purposes actually," he said, turning the car around to slip onto a taxiway, "One is the obvious: to satisfy a BlackWarGreymon's needs."

"I thought going out and plundering would do that," Jorcy said amusing him.

"No, not this one," Jet let out with a nervous laugh, "least I hope that impulse is killed. It's to let me drive, something I _have _to do, and I've always wanted to pilot a Prodrive P2, you know, fun stuff and all that jazz"

"So the other would be?"

"To teach you about life according to," Jet paused, "_The Ethics!"_ he said with an unnaturally deep voice. Jorcy smirked a little.

"_The Ethics _has no known author, although many say it was written by one of the Sovereigns, I say it was written by someone with a lot of time on their hands, a decent thinking brain and a Napoleon complex."

"Okay, so that would make it a book of what?"

Oh you know. Rules and other stuff like that. It's a pretty silly idea, but one that I do understand completely, therefore, I am being allowed to teach you."

"Ah, I see. So what will I be learning?"

"Oh, something to the effect of this."

Jet reached down into the central console, turned a knob to "3" and looked over at Jorcy. He jerked the wheel as far right as he could, and the car began to slide. Jorcy, immediately sensing this change (obviously!) began to go into his classic panic mode: Wide-eyed. Kung-fu Grip. With the occasional high pitched screaming.

Jet hated the screaming. It hurt his ears and made his head feel like it was going to split. Plus it made Jorcy seem more like a scared girl than a terror stricken person at the "coming of age" point in the timeframe of life.

The back tires poured out smoke and Jet maintained control of the car. Jorcy quickly looked over to see Jet in full control during the slide, and was reassured when Jet slowed the car to a stop.

"Let's go have a look," Jet said, unbuckling the safety belt.

* * *

He kneeled down onto one knee and placed his hand flat on where the rubber had left its mark. He quickly took his hand off, yelping in pain a little. The marks were still very hot. Jet shifted to his natural digimon form and turned to Jorcy.

"Life," he said.

"Life," Jorcy repeated, not sure what to do.

"What is it to you?" he asked.

"What is life?"

"No, I want you to tell me what life to _you_ is."

"I don't really know, I haven't thought about it too much."

"Life is…life is…"

"…is what?" Jorcy interrupted.

"Life is," Jet said simply.

He looked back at the skid marks that came around the turn.

"Life isn't just a straight line from birth to death. Nor is it a line that will be moving straight and then suddenly turn 90 degrees without warning," he looked back at Jorcy, "_The Ethics _teaches us that life is a perfectly smooth curve."

"How does that work?" Jorcy asked.

"No one knows," Jet said with a half-smirk coming across his muzzle, "But I have a theory." He gestured for Jorcy to follow.

"I'm not sure how exactly I'll do it, but I have never failed before when it comes to putting out a good product."

"I know Flame," Gennai rubbed his brow, "Jorcy seems different then all the rest. All the rest willingly joined, Jorcy seems to have joined willingly, but only with the understanding of confusion and doubt. I need you to be not just your usual, but also a teacher at the same time."

"Sir? What exactly do you mean by teacher?"

"I want you to teach him until he understands fully and has confidence in his understanding."  
"And when will that be?" Flame remarked.

"Soon," Gennai looked away from Flame, "We'll know, but he, he will know first. When he reaches a point in which he understands, he will let you know. Teach him, teach him well. I know you're the best, now prove it to me that you're higher than "the best.""

"Yes sir," Flame answered reluctantly. He had no idea where to begin.

The skid marks trailed along the ground for nearly 700 feet. Jet stood at the beginning of the farthest one.

"Birth," Jet said.

He slowly pointed to the end of the skid marks, "Death."

"I don't get it," Jorcy said.

"This skid mark is what?" Jorcy had no answer he thought was correct. He picked one at random.

"A curve?"

"Exactly," Jet said happily, "A curve."

"Life is, life is---"

"A curve," Jet cut in reassuringly, "We start off with a simple life. Jerking a wheel to the right is simple," he said, as he began to walk down the skid marks.

"I don't really understand," Jorcy apologized.

Jet stopped about 50 feet after the beginning of the skid marks, "Here. Here is where those who can master life begin their work. Just as I had to carefully make sure I was controlling everything correctly, so does the master at this age."

Jet continued down now to around 100 feet into the skid.

"Assuming control at this point in a skid is critical. Lose control, and the skid will fail. You'll either over steer out of the skid or under steer into a spin. Control is critical, but is hardly handed to you. You have to work for it, and you have to know what you're doing. In the past 50 feet, our little being has developed a sense of control in their life and at this point, they implement full control of their life."

He walked on this time, reaching the half way point.

"Locked in to a skid, you're working on feeling from the feedback of the car at this point. Now you're just cruising through life on feelings and emotions, zooming along gloriously," he said, continuing down the skid marks.

He reached the end, "and the inevitable end. It's a simple ending, you just let go of the steering wheel and the car should naturally come out of the skid. Death is an inevitable end, and it comes naturally and is a simple idea: You stop functioning completely, you let go of life."

Jorcy stared blankly. Jet stared back, the BlackWarGreymon giving off a look of fierce passion.

"Beginning a skid is a simple technique. Controlling it is the key to continuing through a skid but involves a huge amount of complex intuition but once you're in control, the great things come with relative ease. To end it, simply let go!" Jorcy declared.

"He learns!" Jet said raising his arms into the air in joy, "Birth is a simple process. Living is complex, but once you learn, it's easy. To which death is an easy end that all you have to do is let go."

"I got it!" Jorcy bounded around the parked car.

"Heh, and that's the easy first lesson," Jet remarked smartly, "We've got a whole book to cover."

* * *

After a few hours of discussion between Jorcy and Jet, and Jet eventually handing the controls of the car over to Jorcy so he could learn to skid, the sun was setting. Jet was back in his human form.

"Best you go to sleep now," Jet said, pulling the car up next to the hanger.

"Why, is tomorrow going to be that hard?"

"Training and Flame make quite a potent combo."

"Really?" Jorcy asked with sarcasm, getting out of the car.

"Wait," Jet said, "I need to tell you just one more thing you should've learned today."

Jorcy sat back down in the passenger seat.

"And that would be?" Jorcy asked.

With lightning speed Jet twisted his arm around Jorcy's neck. He almost instantly brought Jorcy down and began to rub his head quickly with his knuckles.

"Noogie!" he yelled. Jorcy squirmed and Jet laughed as he continued the prank. Jorcy in his squirming began to thrash around; this made Jet laugh harder. That was until a fist from Jorcy hit Jet in the temple. Jet let his grip loosen and Jorcy was free.

"Noogie avenged!" he laughed.

"Indeed," Jet said, rubbing the area Jorcy's hit contacted, "Very much indeed."

"You know, if I didn't know any better, I'd say you'd be my older brother," Jorcy said with all seriousness.

"Well, we're still cousins, isn't that enough for you?" Jet laughed. Jorcy closed the door to the powerful coupe and Jet hammered the throttle. He shifted up as flames blew out of both exhausts and making a sound that resembled a huge backfire. Jorcy figured it was because there were no exhaust noise controls.

He walked back to his temporary room and threw his jacket off.

* * *

**If you didn't catch what exactly Jet was saying, don't feel bad at all.**


	15. Testing, Testing

I don't own Digimon. Nor the Ford Shelby Mustang. If anyone is confused about which Shelby I'm using in the story, it's the newest model. Original Shelby Mustangs are great, but hey, we all can't get what we want. I also don't own Kool-Aid.

* * *

**Digimon: The Silent Project**

**By Jared Head**

* * *

**Chapter 15**

**Testing, Testing**

* * *

_**"I would not know what the spirit of a philosopher might wish more to be than a good dancer."**_

**Friedrich Nietzsche**

* * *

"Wake up," someone said giggling. Waking up to someone giggling alarmed him slightly. Jorcy had thoughts, but didn't know if someone would actually do something. 

"What?" he asked groggily.

"Breakfast," a voice he immediately identified as Jet's answered.

"Awesome, I'm there," Jorcy said, rolling out of bed. He rubbed his eyes to smear the sleep off of them. He heard another giggle and looked up. A whipped cream pie promptly greeted his face.

Laughter erupted as soon as the pie hit. Jorcy knew he had been pranked and took it in the usual manner: joining in the laughter.

"Who threw it?" Jorcy asked as he stopped laughing. If they could see under al the shipped cream, they would see a big smile coming from Jorcy.

"Edan did," Flame answered with a laugh.

"Flame?" Edan whined, "Why couldn't I have admitted first? Now it looks as if I was trying not to tell him."

"Alright well, you let me wash this off of my face, and I'll be there a-sap, okay?" Jorcy chuckled.

"We'll be waiting," Jet said lightly.

* * *

"What?" Jorcy asked in between bites of pancakes. All four were sitting around a table in the middle of the hanger. Edan was in his human form eating. Jorcy was eating as well. Flame was watching while Jet, also in his human form, had spaced out looking at the ceiling. 

"Just some tests, that's all," Flame said.

"Tests?"

"Yeah, they're just to check out certain things," Jorcy stared at Flame, "What?" Flame asked defensively.

"I'm not going to get hurt, right?" Jorcy asked, looking around the table.

"Why in the world would _you _of all people get hurt during some silly little tests?" Jet asked, still looking upwards.

"They did them on me yesterday and I'm perfectly fine today," Edan reassured with a smile. Jorcy went back to eating, not noticing a series of quick twitches from Edan. Jorcy took a large bite and looked up at the ceiling. He was trying to pin-point what Jet was looking at.

He could find nothing of interest to him, so he decided to ask.

"What you looking at?" he asked across the table. Jet didn't give a response, "Whatcha' looking at?" Jorcy asked loudly. Jet looked at Jorcy with a confused look.

"Nothing," he said simply, "I was just waiting to see how long it would take for someone to ask me what I'm looking at."

"Oldest trick in the book Jorcy," Flame sighed.

"What book?"

"_The Bible,_" Jet replied smartly, now looking out the opening between the massive doors. It was obvious what he was looking at. The sun rising above the horizon cast a silhouette on the Shelby.

"_The Bible _has pranks in it?" Edan asked.

"Yeah," Jet said, "It wasn't wine. It was wine flavored Kool-Aid."

"Okay, enough of this discussion. What ever the hell you guys are blabbing about, we need to get these tests up and going or else we're going to miss some much needed sleep. Especially Jorcy, he needs all he can get because of tomorrow," Flame said. He stood up and made his way to the door in the ground.

"What's that suppose to mean?" Jorcy asked, standing to follow Flame. Flame continued down the stairs.

"Well, tomorrow you'll find out," Edan said, beginning to walk over to the door. Jorcy turned to Jet.

"Flame's not going to be getting any sleep tonight," Jet said looking intently over to Jorcy. He stood up and fixed his gaze back on the Shelby.

* * *

"Yeah, I'd be nervous too," Jet said to calm Jorcy. Jet, now in his digimon form, and Flame were seated facing Jorcy, who was also seated. 

"Okay Jorcy, I'm about to show you a Rorschach inkblot test."

"A what?" Jorcy asked. Edan also took a seat next to Flame.

"You know about these right?" Jet asked, holding up white cards with blots on ink on them. Jorcy nodded.

"Okay, tell me what you see."

Jorcy looked at the card for a good deal of time. His eyes lit up like he was experiencing a moment of genius.

"An ink blot!" he declared to the world.

"No, no, Jorcy, we know it's an inkblot, we want to know what you see in it," Jet said.

"Oh, okay, uh….uh…mangos," he said quickly.

Jet handed him the next one, "Oh boy, um…what I leave on the floor after a bad night of drinking," Jet looked up with confusion as he handed the next on to Jorcy, who was still studying the "bad night of drinking" blot.

Flame was jotting down the answers, also with a look of confusion.

"Oh, this one…uh…cherry pie…no…cherry and chocolate mousse pie In the face of an aphrodisiac, whatever an aphrodisiac is," Jorcy said as he studied it.

"Does he even know what an aphrodisiac is?" Jet said looking over at Flame.

"Apparently not," Flame answered back. A look of confusion came over Flame. He decided to ask.

"Wait, what is an aphrodisiac?"

* * *

"Okay Jorcy, just a few more seconds and we'll be ready to start the test," Flame said into the microphone. 

"This is my absolute favorite," Jet said with a giddy happiness.

Jorcy looked nervously around the room. He was worried about any room being considered a "test room" and there being padding lining the walls, floor and ceiling. The only part that wasn't padded was the window to let the tester(s) see the test subject in the room.

"So what's going to happen to me?" he asked shakily.

"We'll be playing some music for you," Edan replied into the microphone.

"It's something that we do to all shifters," Flame continued where Edan left off, "Just a little test on weaknesses."

"Weaknesses?" Jorcy's voice cracked.

"M test number 7," Edan said over the microphone, "commence!"

Flame pushed a button and music blared over unseen speakers. It was music that Jorcy had never heard before. He listened intently until he felt something strange come over him.

"Yeah, he's a bon-a-fide shifter alright," Flame said in "a matter-of-fact" way.

Jorcy, much to his surprise, he had his arms on the floor with his legs hanging lazily in the air. He twisted and spun back down, somehow going into a back flip.

"What the hell is going on!" He yelled as he front-flipped into a walking handstand, to which he placed his feet on the wall and began to break dance on the wall.

"Now that's a first!" Flame declared.

"So, what's the official declaration?" Jet asked.

"Breakbeats, obviously," Edan said.

"Jorcy, Breakbeats is your official genre, okay?" Flame said into the microphone.

"What?" Jorcy yelled in sheer terror. He was now spinning on his head on the ceiling.

* * *

"All shifters have a genetic disorder. When they hear a certain type of music, they begin to dance uncontrollably. I know it sounds silly, but it's something that can disable you, and we've found that you can't listen to Breakbeats," Flame said, "Alright, I'm going to go get some sleep. You get some too. I'll see you in the morning." 

Jorcy sat in the chair, shaking slightly, as Flame walked out. What the hell had just happened to him?

"Okay, okay, let's see if this works," Jet said, putting in a cassette to a cassette player. Edan kept his laughter in easily. He had no trouble keeping a laugh in.

"Harry Belafonte" is what a marker had written on the side of the cassette. Jet pushed play, and it began to play back.

Jorcy stood up to leave the room, but quickly stiffened up and stopped in place.

"Day O!" he cried out in time with the music. Jet and Edan burst into hysterical laughter. Edan clutched his side as he began to feel pain from laughing as hard as he was. Jet suddenly stiffened up.

"Day light come and me wan' go home!" Jet cried out in time with the music. This sent Edan into hysterics, but Edan at that exact moment stopped rolling on the ground and stood up quickly.

"Day light come and me wan' go home!" Edan also cried out in time with the music. The two quickly entered into the same room with Jorcy and al three formed a triangle.

Flame, hearing music, ran back into the room to see a human, BlackWarGreymon and partially mechanized Guilmon beginning to dance.

"What's all this?" he asked as seriousness turned to hilarity. Flame pointed letting out a single laugh and stiffened up.

"Work all night on a drink of Rum!" Flame decreed with the music as his arms rose. The beat came, and all four began to dance uncontrollably.

* * *

**In case anyone wants to hear the song used hear at the end, find "Day-O" by Harry Belafonte. It can also be found Ina movie, which I guess I'm paying a little tribute to the scene it was used in.

* * *

**


	16. The Dawning Day

I don't own Digimon. So, want to grab a bite to eat or something?

* * *

**Digimon: The Silent Project**

**By Jared Head**

* * *

**Chapter 16**

**The Dawning Day**

* * *

"_**Men are born to succeed, not fail."**_

**Henry David Thoreau**

* * *

"Tomorrows the dawning day, right?" Jet asked. 

"Yes," Flame said, his eyes closed tightly, "The first after a long long time or being out of the flow."

"How long?" Jet asked.

"Too long," was Flame's answer, "So long that I'm afraid of failing."

"Well, if we were all afraid of failure, what would both worlds have turned out to be like?" Jet added.

"I don't think anyone is in the position to answer that."

"Well," Jet paused, "There's the answer then. You just need to calm your nerves quite a bit."

"I guess you're right," Flame answered, "I don't think Jorcy has any clue what's coming up for him," Flame said with a slight smile.

"I don't think any of us have a clue of what will happen during his training," Jet also smiled. He took in a deep breath an exhaled slowly, "Well, I best be getting some sleep," Jet stood up slowly, "You sure I can't stay to help you through the night?"

"Jet, I've lost count of how many times I've made it through the night alone."

"Well, anomalies happen."

"Thanks for the advice Jet," Flame said, a "thank you" in his voice's tone.

"No worries," Jet said, "just teach one thing to Jorcy for me so he doesn't make the mistake I did," he said, Flame was all ears.

"Teach him not to run."

Jet left the room and slowly shut the door. He looked both ways down the hallway and made his way to the closest bathroom. No one was there to see him, so he kept the small bag of powder in his hand for anyone to see. He opened the door to the bathroom and closed it slowly. The sound of a lock echoed down the hallway. He took the mirror down, laid it across the sink and began the process he had done so many times. It's result always the same, and Jet enjoying every second of it.

* * *

"**_The dawning day of training is to be watched by the master only after purging themselves of all impurities. Then, and only then, may the master submit to the heavenly fire to begin his own trial by fire."_**

-**from _The Ethics_**

* * *

Flame stood on the edge of the runway, looking out to ocean in the west. The sky was a brilliant mash-up of colors rarely seen by the few that woke up early enough to see the sun rise into the sky. Flame had followed the long known rule of training: purge the night before instead of sleeping. It was said to keep the mind sharper by staying awake rather than letting the mind rest. Purging helped to purify the master for his trial that lay ahead of him. It was well outdated by modern principals, but it had never failed Flame. 

The solar terminator appeared on the horizon and continued racing eastward. The point where light met day quickly reached Flame, and the final process of preparation was done. From Darkness to Light. The teacher was considered to be fully cleansed and ready to finally pass down to a new generation.

Now was the time to seize him.

* * *

**Seize it.**

* * *


	17. Who Are You?

I don't own Digimon. If you're reading this, thank you for reading this far. There are some good changes coming.

Note: Thanks to Ins-Dragonclaw who did more than just help me figure things out, he helped write a portion of this chapter. A big thanks goes out to him.

* * *

**Digimon: The Silent Project**

**By Jared Head**

* * *

**Chapter 17**

**Who Are You?**

* * *

_**"The mind's first step to self-awareness must be through the body."**_

**George Sheehan**

* * *

A technique, well know to Flame, was put into practice. Cold water was highly effective at waking any sleeper up. The water landed on its target with the expected outcome. An eye opened, followed by the other. Success. 

If Jorcy was dreaming, he just had an interruption. Groggy for a second, the chill of the water aided in his jump from his bed, landing on his back, slightly soaked. Flame stood over him.

"Up n' at 'em," Flame said, the accomplished tone breaking through.

"What the hell was that all about?" Jorcy asked, getting to his feet. He whipped the water rolling down his face with a clumsy hand.

"Time to find out who you truly are," Flame said with a slight smile, "So, up and out."

* * *

The two were standing in the middle of a runway. A few small cracks in the surface show it had aged. The sky was eternally blue; clouds were an idea that would only manifest in the mind on a day like this one. A slight breeze had a slightly salted smell to it. As it came off of the ocean, the breeze keep things comfortably cool. Jorcy normally would have left his jacket off for the day, but with the cold chill that awoke him, he felt the need to stay warm. His hair was an absolute mess from the water. 

"Now," Flame started, "Gennai has asked _me _to train _you_. Do not think that this means I am becoming your teacher. It is my responsibility that you have respect for me while at the same time I remain a very close friend to you."

"I've only known you for 4 days, that makes you close?" Jorcy quipped.

"I would hope that is a decent amount of time for me and you to know each other already," Flame began to pace with his arms crossed, "I'm sure you're asking why we are training you---"

"Nope!" Jorcy chimed in. He took a pause, "In all seriousness, why are you training me?" Flame threw a look of annoyance towards him, "I thought I should at least ask the question," he replied quietly. His three attempts at making Flame lighten up had failed. He quickly realized Flame meant business.

"You are being trained because as peaceful as it seems, we are at war. Shifters are the main victims of this war, and we are fighting for our right to survive." He looked directly to a visibly uneasy Jorcy.

"I'm not sure I understand exactly why this involves me," Jorcy said.

"This is more than just life or death, Jorcy. This is either the continuation of a species, or its total extinction."

"Shifters are being exterminated?"

"I'm afraid so, Jorcy, and we're here to stop this. The only thing the Shifters ever did to deserve this genocide was being created in the first place. The death toll has already reached the hundreds of thousands. It will continue to climb, and we're trying to stop it from going any further."

"Wait, Shifters?" Jorcy asked.

"Yes, Shifters."

"Shifters?" Jorcy's head tilted to the left a little.

"Shifters," Flame said.

"Shifters," Jorcy replied.

"Yes," Flame was becoming annoyed, "Shifters."

"Shifters?"

"Shall I spell it for you?" Flame's patience was closing in on its end; sarcasm was beginning to boil up.

"No, it's s-h-i-f-t-e-r-s, right?"

Flame was not amused, and told Jorcy through a look. The look expressed his thoughts so well, Jorcy's face filled with worry as he took a step backwards. He wasn't sure whether Flame was simply annoyed or about to take a swing at him. Flame let out a deep sigh. This was going nowhere fast and time is a precious commodity.

"Okay," Flame began, "You're a shifter, right?"

Jorcy nodded, looking perplexed.

"So let's see it."

"She what?" Jorcy asked with a frown.

Flame could only look at Jorcy as if he had asked what the color of the sky was. After he was done rolling his eyes he began, "Your shifted form."

"That's what you call it?"

"Yes. That, and in the case of someone like Jet, it can also be referred to as 'Digimon form' when he's a BlackWarGreymon. The technical definition for that form, though, is "Natural form". When Jet is human, we refer to it as 'Alternate form', 'Shifted form' or 'Human form'. So, how about we see your Alternate form?"

"Alright," Jorcy paused, "How do I do it?"

Flame smiled to himself. _Acceptance_. He wondered as to how Jorcy would react to the change, "Okay. Answer this Jorcy: How are you breathing?"

The question caught Jorcy off guard, "Inhaling and exhaling, that's my best guess."

"How about blinking when someone takes a swing at you? What makes sure that you swallow food and drinks properly? What makes you remove your hand instantly?"

"Reflexes?" he asked.

"Exactly. Shifting, as weird as this notion maybe be, is a reflex. Much like breathing, you have to learn it."

Jorcy's eyes hinted at his understanding.

"The first time is almost always the most difficult. It will quickly become natural to you."

"Okay," Jorcy paused to think, bringing his hand up to his temple in thought, "How do I do it the first time?"

"The key to it is visualization," Flame assured, "Close your eyes."

Jorcy put trust into Flame's words. He closed his eyes. Flame took a few steps backwards – he remembered what happened with his last student.

"Take in a deep breath, and relax," he said a little louder. Jorcy did as he was told and Flame could see the tension leaving his body. _Here we go._

"Can you visualize yourself, as you currently are, in your mind?" he asked. Jorcy thought about that morning, 4 days ago, before any of this. It felt like 4 years. But yes, he could visualize himself. He nodded, still keeping himself in his mind.

"See yourself," Flame closed his eyes to go through the exact motions as Jorcy, following the ways from _The Ethics_, "Then see yourself change."

_Change? To What? _He did as Flame had instructed. A mentally-projected Jorcy appeared in his mind's eye. _Right. Change._

Nothing happened. He refocused and tried again. _Change!_ Still nothing. He wondered what would happened if he let the image drift somewhere else, and lose focus. He slowly let go of the visualization. Instead of disappearing, it started changing!

It turned into a white blob with no definition. Jorcy tried to focus and the image jumped out of his mind. _Shit._ He tried again, visualizing himself those 4 days ago, and letting it drift out of focus. Once again, the white blob appeared. But that blob was slowly gaining definition – straightening out, gaining appendages…

The world seemed to brighten around Jorcy. As if someone had turned on the lights, only it was inside of his eyelids. He couldn't make out the shape anymore. It had faded into the light.

Suddenly, his world shot out of focus by a powerful blast of air and a sensation of being kicked in the stomach. He began to stumble backwards. He lost his footing and he was falling backwards to the ground, but something caught him just before the impact.

"Gotcha!" Flame said. Obviously, Flame had caught Jorcy. But his voice was faint, lost in the distance. Jorcy tried opening his eyes.

They were immediately assaulted by a bright white light. Everything was white, a flat, unchanging shade of white. It hurt his eyes. He closed his eyes again, but the light took a few seconds to fade, as did the pain.

He felt a numbness spread throughout his body. It started at his heart and spread everywhere else. His first thought was, _I'm dying!_

"What…did…I do…wrong?" he asked to the air around him.

"Nothing," Flame whispered, "You did just fine."

"What…" Jorcy didn't finish his sentence before slipping into unconsciousness.

* * *

"What happened to me?" Jorcy asked. The light to his newly opened eyes made the world complete white. 

"You've gained the ability to shift," Flame said quietly. Jorcy could barely make out Flame, looking the usual way he stood when addressing someone with serious news. Arms crossed, leaning against a wall. The cold of the table began to slowly penetrate Jorcy's skin.

"What do I look like?" Jorcy asked. He felt an immense pressure had been put onto Flame's shoulders with one question. Flame, on the other hand, was worried it could send Jorcy back into shock.

"Normal." He waited for Jorcy's reaction, which was a smile that revealed a sharp row of teeth. "Go ahead and stand up. You can find out for yourself."

He hopped off of the steel table and stood still. He closed his eyes; they were useless at this point in time from the bright light.

He heard something being dragged over in front of him. A rumbling went through the room and Jorcy moved his head around, trying to identify where it came from. It seemed to Jorcy that the move was by instinct rather than a legitimate concern.

"Just Jet," Flames voice reassured, "He's practicing."

Jorcy restrained himself from asking, as he figured there was a much more pressing issue at hand.

"I've put a mirror in front of you," Flame mentioned to him. He opened his eyes and, again, was in the middle of a white-out.

"All I see is white, one solid shade of pure white," he remarked with tension.

"That sounds about right," Flame said, "Your eyes are relatively new, so they haven't adjusted to the brightness of the world yet. It should take only a few minutes now, so just hang on."

His vision was slowly coming back. He could begin to barely make out lines. No help to him and his mind as it searched over every inch inside of his head for a memory like this. None whatsoever. The lines quickly sharpened as the blur of his eyes slowly wore off. As this happened, it dawned on him: He was no longer human.

The initial thought didn't hit as hard as the first time, but it was still something that made him feel like he was in freefall. He could tell by his outline he resembled a Flamedramon in certain ways, in that his outline looked very agile, lean and something that would be a mastery of hand-to-hand (or in this case, claw-to-claw) combat. But around his waist on each side a thin line stuck out, like that of a ruler coming out of him. He put his claws down and grabbed onto them.

They were cold and metallic, a complete surprise to Jorcy. He gripped them a slight amount tighter and felt that the very tips of his claws were cold, the palm of his claws felt padded. He took his claws off and placed one in the other. No, his claws weren't padded. These metallic protrusions from his waist were.

"Those are your attack systems," Flame said.

Jorcy took a mental note of what Flame had said. He looked back at his reflection and was startled to see more detail. His body was white with features that were black. He couldn't quite make them out, but he knew they were black. He could also see his face a little better, and that there was a thick black line running across it. He figured that his eyes were most likely within that thick black line. Clarity, suddenly, made its grand entrance.

"Jorcy, I think you're a version of a Flamedramon, but highly evolved, well beyond what any current Flamedramon is."

"Thanks for pointing that out Flame," Jorcy snapped. He now saw that those black masses were on his arms, chest and legs. They were a strange tribal style pattern that looked as if it had been intricately designed by the finest of artists. It was gray colored and its outline was black and the line for it was thick. Jorcy was glad this person using the gray color had stayed in the lines.

His face was the next thing he decided to look at. That thick black line on his face was eyewear of some kind. They looked like goggles, but were hardly big and bulky like the average pair. He brought up his claw to take them off, but found he couldn't. He looked closer and saw they were, somehow, held in by screws. He wouldn't ask, as he didn't want to have the sensation of a power-drill being used on his face to remove them. They must serve some protective purpose, like safety glasses but drilled into the wearer's face.

His claws. Four fingers, human like, ending with black "nails" that, if Jorcy recalled correctly, were best known as "chela". Looks like Biology class finally came in handy. He looked down at his feet and saw they differed from his hands. 3 toes, black talons, same as his hands. Or where they claws? Jorcy didn't know what to call them.

He looked at his "attack systems" and saw that they were guns in a special type of holster that went around his waist. They were guns that had a menacing, powerful and clean look about them. He figured they had to be larger than a .50 caliber rifle. They had the same tribal pattern on the sides of their barrels. Jorcy smiled slightly.

"Jorcy!" Flame yelled. His attention was diverted to Flame, "Let's go for a quick walk," Flame said. He too was smiling slightly.

* * *


	18. First Hit

I don't own Digimon. I'm aiming to end this story by May 1st. I'd like everyone to get on me about it that I stay true to the deadline. I own my respective characters and universes, and maybe own you on a few racing games.

* * *

"**Digimon: The Silent Project"**

**By Jared Head  
**

* * *

**Chapter 18**

**First Hit**

* * *

"_**The superior man is modest in his speech, but exceeds in his actions."**_

**Confucius**

* * *

He kept his eyes shielded from the sun. The runway did little to neutralize the light. He was in his shifted form; he hadn't learned to go back to his human self yet. His eyes had already adapted to the light from a room, but the sun is more powerful than any light-bulb. He squinted through the brightness. He hoped this would eventually go away. He hoped it would be soon. 

"Edan is gone," Jet said with a calm voice. His lip twitched slightly before he spoke again, "He left a note that basically said he had to go find who he was."

"Understandable," Flame said, "We all have to do that. I'm only surprised that it didn't happen sooner."

He turned to look back at Jorcy, "Get Kaida." Jet promptly left.

"Who?" Jorcy asked.

"Kaida," Flame explained, "You'll like her. Well, we hope you'll like her."

"What is she, like, some blind date person I'm being set up with?"

"No. Edan was originally going to help out with your training, he was going to be your opponent for today's test at least, but now it appears that Kaida will be your training twin. She's learning too, but I'm not her teacher."

"Yeah, that helps tell me who she is."

"She's also a shifter too Jorcy," Flame said. He lost is patience from suddenly being bombarded by questions. He quickly composed himself, knowing Jorcy was fairly new to everything, "She's a Guilmon too."

"And that means?" Jorcy emphasized his last words.

"You better know what it means right proper quickly. Edan was a digimon. We do have proper species names. Like me. I'm, obviously, a Flamedramon." The lights in Jorcy's head turned on.

"So that's why everyone calls you Flame! It takes a long time to say Flamedramon, and Flame is a lot quicker."

"Jorcy," Flame paused to think of what to say, "I have nothing to say in response. Congratulations."

They were prevented from going any further in conversation by Jet landing near them. He landed with such force that the runway's asphalt cracked. A small cloud of dust spiraled as air rushed out from him.

"Here she comes," he said with a smile, "Oh, be careful. She's got this style of fighting that's based off of momentum, so be ready for that," he turned back to Flame, "If you'll excuse me, I've got some rusty wings to dust off."

He turned away from the two. The shield on his back split right down the middle into two pieces, but still were connected at the top. He looked up, squatted slightly and began to slowly rise off of the ground. He twisted around, brought is body parallel to the ground and began to slowly fly away.

He went over Flame and Jorcy at running pace for a few moments. When he was 50 feet away, he accelerated faster than anything Jorcy had seen. Jet rocketed straight up and was gone behind a few clouds in the blink of an eye, leaving behind a slight rumble.

Jorcy turned back to Flame. To his slight fear, another digimon was standing next to Flame, arms crossed and looking at Jorcy with a curious look. It was Edan, but without that entire biomechanical enhancement.

"Never seen one like him before," it said with a clearly feminine voice.

"Kaida, meet Jorcy, Jorcy, meet Kaida," Flame introduced with his usual charm. Kaida stuck her left claw out first.

"Nice to meet a newbie," she smirked.

"Same here newbie," Jorcy sharply answered. He didn't like being called a newbie, and neither did she, especially by a newbie. She didn't let her eyes steer away from his. It wasn't a welcoming stare she threw off. It had a menacing look to it, mixed in with plotting and the gears in her head turning. He wondered what she was thinking, and if it would ever be carried out. A gust of wind broke the silence between the two.

"Okay, Jorcy, today you will be learning from both me and Kaida. Kaida here is in the processes of wrapping up the highest knowledge you can be taught in the art of combat, and she'll be helping me out here as the final part of her training."

"Art of combat? What's so artsy-fartsy about it?" Jorcy asked.

"The art is in the style you deliver for the receiving end," Kaida smiled.

"We're going to be starting from the basics. Jorcy, I'm sure you know how to throw a punch. So, go ahead and punch Kaida."

Jorcy looked at Flame for a second.

"I can't hit a girl."

"Jorcy," Flame buried his face in his claws and the armor covering them, "If you can't hit a girl, then what are you going to hit when your life is on the line?"

"The escape button."

"Really. Where would that be? Here?" Flame asked gesturing to his leg, "How about here? Or maybe here."

"Okay, okay. I get the point."

Jorcy hadn't a clue what to do. Jet swooped in silently and landed. He was interested in seeing this pivotal moment.

"You think he realizes what we're doing?" Jet whispered into Flame's ear.

"No," Flame said out loud, crossing his arms.

"He's not a natural HEAV, so he won't react in a natural way," Jet whispered again.

"Alright, cut the staring contest, are you going to hit me or what?" Jorcy continued to stare at her, "Suit yourself," she said. Kaida's fighting stance allowed her to use momentum over sheer power. She squatted a good amount and shifted a small amount of her weight onto her front leg.

In the blink of an eye she shifted her entire weight to her front leg and swung her back leg upwards. The momentum was there as she began to spin slightly, her back leg not extended fully. She came around and saw she was right on target for her foot to connect to Jorcy's face.

As soon as the connection was to be made, she felt something grab her foot. The quick realization that Jorcy had caught her by the foot in mid-air came over her. Jorcy was just as surprised.

How he reacted quick enough to catch her in mid-air was a mystery to him. He didn't feel like he was in full control of himself. It didn't matter as he was jarred back to reality. In the time Jorcy was thinking, Kaida had managed to bend in a manner that allowed her other leg to connect with Jorcy's head.

That one kick connected properly and Jorcy was down on the ground, unconscious. All three of them stood there and looked at each other.

"Perfect!" Jet cried out with a certain satisfaction in his voice.

* * *


	19. The Unexpected

I don't own it. Just the things I've created. Special thanks goes to Aku for being the lone beta-reader for this chapter.

* * *

**"Digimon: The Silent Project" **

**By Jared Head**

* * *

**Chapter 19**

**The Unexpected**

* * *

**_"In these matters the only certainty is that nothing is certain." _**

**Pliny the Elder**

* * *

"He won't come to for another couple of hours, guaranteed," Jet said, kneeling over Jorcy's body. 

"That's a normal kick," Kaida smirked, "Newbie couldn't handle it?"

"No," Jet said, "He's resetting."

Flame leaned over Jet's shoulder to confirm this. He had only read about it in books. Jet had carefully pulled Jorcy's eyelid back with his claws. There was a blue energy in the white's of Jorcy's eyes moving away from the center.

"Resetting?" Kaida asked, now standing behind them.

"Yeah, I've only read about it, but when a Digimon goes Heav for the first time, they have to reset. If they don't reset properly, something happens," Jet answered.

"And that something would be?" she asked.

"I have no clue, I didn't read _that _far."

"Heav? You sure he's one?"

"I saw it," Flame said, standing up and turning to Kaida, "Did you see it?"

"See what? I was a little busy kicking him one in the face."

"He changed. He was standing there with hardly any time to react, but he suddenly reacted. He went Heav for a split second. He is one."

"Heav? He'd be the first one in a long time." Pausing, she smirked slightly. "And I got him one right in the face."

"Brag now all you want," Jet said, standing to his feet. "Once he knows how to harness even one percent of his Heav abilities, he'll be able to casually walk up and watch projectiles from hypersonic weapons move at the rate of a few millimeters per second. Just wait till he reaches 100 percent, if that's even possible."

Kaida wasn't impressed. "He'll perform some great parlor tricks then."

* * *

His secondary weapon was the one he loved to use. It was something that no one ever saw coming, let alone heard. Trenzor was laying on his belly looking down the sight. His primary weapons were guns, and his secondary weapon was no exception. Both were his attacks, and he thought of his secondary attack as his most refined. It was fatal from almost four miles. 

The barrel was at least four feet long. At full length, the ultra-rifle was 7 feet long. The projectiles were shaped like miniature anti-tank rounds, and the kick from these was considerable. They fit compactly into the firing chamber, which was where one was now. He was a good half-mile away from his targets, and there were four. The Flamedramon, Guilmon, BlackWarGreymon, and white Digimon he had never seen before. What was it?

It didn't matter. He had a job to do, and that was to put at least one round into each head he saw. Four shots needed to be squeezed off in less than an eighth of a second, any longer and they'd naturally react by moving.

He hoped he was camouflaged in the grass well. If not, he was on a suicide mission. But why would Ranzor risk something as precious as Trenzor? He gave it a thought and realized the odds of pulling off all four shots perfectly. It was well beyond one in seven million. Ranzor only put him on missions he knew he would be able to complete successfully.

Trenzor thought back…

"…_You're having a launch party in two days in the Real World for a new pharmaceutical medication your Real World company will be putting out. We should invite them there and kill them off immediately. Kill them at separate times in separate places. Break them up and such."_

"_It doesn't sound good at all Trenzor. I'd much rather you go out, get that ultra-rifle set up and take them out, okay? If that doesn't work, we'll then invite them to the party. If you'll excuse me, I'm going to go to sleep…"_

...Ranzor had set him up.

"Forget this."

Standing up, he defied the orders he had been given. He began to walk towards the base, leaving the ultra-rifle behind.

* * *

"I'd say we can drag him into the hanger and then he'll eventually come to," Jet said, looking back at the hanger. 

"That's a few hundred meters, you sure it's smart to even drag him?" Flame was genuinely concerned.

"Yeah, something about that doesn't sound right; won't he wake up as soon as you pull?" Kaida pointed out. Jet's face showed a sign of deep thought as all three lifted Jorcy.

"You know Kaida, you just mi---"

"Shhh!" Flame cut in. Silence became deafening. Flame turned his head so his left ear was aiming down to the end of the runway. Kaida and Jet stopped moving. Jorcy swung slightly in their grasp as they stopped. "Down!" Flame yelled. All three hit the tarmac as they released their grips on Jorcy.

The rounds pierced the air where they would have been standing. The projectiles ricocheted off of the hanger door. Trenzor walked up slowly, gun still drawn at arm's length. Flame didn't hesitate. He covered the distance in half a second. He pushed off of the ground with one leg, added a slight spin with his tail and kicked the gun clean out of Trenzor's claws. He turned his head to watch the gun as it sailed through the air. It landed with a loud clank.

Jorcy's eye's opened wide, but he did not move. No one took notice to Jorcy at the moment as he lay there. The process had been interrupted within his mind.

Trenzor turned back to Flame.

"Nice," he said.

"Thank you," Flame responded.

"You first?"

"No, I insist on the aggressor to be the one who throws the first."

"Have it your way then," Trenzor said, bowing slightly. Flame also bowed. Trenzor slowly entered into his stance, his legs stretched apart as he crouched down. He brought his arms out like he was holding his guns. Flame could see this one was going to be a bit of a problem.

Flame slowly lowered into his stance. The two waited, Trenzor trying his best to throw Flame off. Flame, being a veteran, had anticipation ready to go at any second. The calculations of every possible attack and angle it could come from tore through his mind.

Trenzor started to run at Flame, and Flame began to run towards Trenzor. When it looked as if both would collide head on, both slowed enough so each was within arms length of the other. Trenzor had already pulled back his left fist, arm ready to deliver the force to follow through on the hit. He threw forward and the punch was caught by both of Flame's claws. He had blocked it.

Flame put all possible strength into tossing Trenzor toward the hanger. Once in the air, Trenzor crashed through the thin sheet metal of the hanger. Flame ran over to the hole, expecting Trenzor to jump out at any moment. Sure enough, Trenzor leapt forward, unphased by Flame's toss. He and Flame both met up again within arm's reach of the other.

Trenzor this time threw a left, and Flame blocked with his right. Flame swung his right leg around and connected with Trenzor's hip. Trenzor, thrown off balance, began to fall. Flame, still holding on to Trenzor's left claw, felt himself being pulled down. He felt a claw on the back of his head pushing down. The face-mask wouldn't protect him enough.

A hollow thud echoed over to Kaida and Jet. Flame was now unconscious, his head having been thrown into the ground so violently.

Kaida jumped up. Trenzor bowed to her but she did not bow back. She sprinted with all her strength and jumped. Trenzor prepared to block an attack from above, but Kaida came in just below his block. She got both her claws around Trenzor's hip and used her momentum to swing around. This threw Trenzor off balance, and she let go, delivering a kick to his head as she rolled to land on both feet. In an instant, Trenzor was back up and already on the offensive against Kaida. Unprepared, she took a kick to the neck. She slumped slowly to the floor.

Trenzor turned back to Jet and was suddenly greeted with the BlackWarGreymon's muzzle already in his face. He engaged his retractable claws. The screeching noise overpowered the hard breathing of both for a split second. Jet began to walk in a circle around Trenzor.

"Sure, you took out those two," he said, a wicked smile across his muzzle, "I'll have you know I've taken on Sovereigns before."

"So have I," Trenzor answered.

"But did you win?" Jet asked quietly. Trenzor didn't answer. "I think that tells me something. I'll let you know, I won. Hell, I even took on two Sovereigns and barely broke a sweat."

"It's not working."

"Oh, I'm not trying to mentally wear you down," Jet mused. That wicked smile became even bigger. "If I wanted to do that, I could very easily have you on the floor, crying for your mother and sucking your thumb. You're just a kid in my eyes. A cocky one too. You think you can take me on?"

Trenzor didn't answer. Jet stopped walking and brought one of his retractable claws up to Trenzor's throat.

"Have you got me?"

Trenzor flipped back, kicking Jet on the lower jaw in the process. He flipped back forward to be greeted by the claw armor of Jet. He was knocked backwards and slid across the ground. Jet slowly walked over to the disoriented Trenzor. He stood next to him for a few seconds as he tried to regain his senses. Jet kicked with a force he hadn't put into a kick in his recent memory.

"Have you got me?" Jet asked, kneeling down onto Trenzor's chest. He came down in a manner so that he knocked the wind out of Trenzor. He pulled his right arm back and swung across Trenzor's face.

"Huh?" Jet taunted, he was enjoying this. He pulled Trenzor's head up and let another hit fly. "Had enough yet?" He punched in the same manner again. Each punch wasn't meant to disable the opponent; Jet threw them to kill the opponent.

As Trenzor's head limply rolled to the left, he could make out a gray colored object lying on the ground. He took his arm and grabbed on to it. Jet did not take notice. With one motion, Trenzor picked up his gun and brought it across Jet's right temple. Jet was off of him and on the ground, clutching his helmet in pain. His vision was blurred by the hit. He knew he had to keep going, regardless if whether or not he could see.

As he stood back up, his vision slowly cleared. The barrel of the gun was aiming right at him. Jet moved to dodge the inevitable projectile quicker than Trenzor could pull the trigger. Jet, very carefully, began to run inwards toward Trenzor. This swirl pattern of running helped him stay ahead of Trenzor's sights. Once within reach, he grabbed Trenzor's left wrist, the one he was firing with, and twisted it backwards, the gun now pointing well away from Jet.

The two pushed as hard as they could. One giving in to the other was a matter of life and death. Trenzor made progress. The gun was moving back towards Jet. Inch by inch its barrel slowly moved towards lining up for the perfect shot. The two weren't looking at the gun anymore; they were looking face to face. A quick knee to the stomach sent Trenzor bending over, but he did not let go of the gun. Jet used another knee to the stomach of Trenzor, trying his best to weaken his opponent.

Jet finally gained; the barrel began to move back towards Trenzor. He knew there would be no way to slip in and pull the trigger. Trenzor's fingers fit snugly in the space where the trigger was. He continued to make progress until the barrel was pointing at Trenzor. He managed to keep his grip on the gun, which was now digging into his wrist. Jet put even more effort into his pushing until he finally heard his success.

_SNAP!_

Trenzor's wrist had dislocated. His grip on the gun slacked, and it fell to the ground. Jet didn't hesitate and landed a monstrous punch in the middle of Trenzor's face. He flew back nearly 20 feet, and landed on his belly, his tail helping with the spin. He flicked his dislocated wrist, snapping it back into the joint. He jumped up, turning to face Jet. Jet wasn't waiting, as he was already running at Trenzor. The white digimon stood there watching the approaching BlackWarGreymon. Calculating what to do, the execution would need to be perfect.

As Jet lunged, arm back and ready for another devastating hit, Trenzor dropped. As a surprised Jet flew over Trenzor, he kicked with all the force he could muster through his legs. The force of the kick sent Jet flying into the side of the hanger back first. He crashed through and landed on the smooth concrete floor inside. Trenzor stood up, dusted himself off and calmly walked over to the hole Jet had left in the wall of sheet metal. Inside, Jet was lying with his belly on the ground. The yellow eyes pierced through his helmet at Trenzor for one last look, a piercing gaze Trenzor wouldn't soon forget. They slowly closed, and that was the end of the hard part for Trenzor.

Now on to the easy part.

He slowly walked over to Jorcy, grabbing his gun along the way. He was still lying on his back, eyes wide open and looking to the sky. Trenzor kneeled over to take a look at him. Jorcy reminded Trenzor of himself, but Jorcy was very different in his look. He turned to look back at the mess he had made: The Flamedramon and Guilmon on the ground within plain sight; the BlackWarGreymon in the hanger; all three unconscious and hardly a threat.

The sound of two distinct metallic clanks alerted him to two chambers being armed. He spun around and looked down.

"Shit!" he yelled, emphasizing his carelessness. The gun fired and Trenzor barely was out of the way as the bullet zipped by. He back flipped his way over to the red machine sitting out in front of the hanger there. He landed behind it and ducked down, back facing the door of the red machine. Jorcy was now standing, but he felt as if someone else had control over him. He brought up both of the guns to arms length.

"Even Shot!" he yelled.

A rain of metal and fire began to blast through the car. The guns were firing so fast, the cartages being ejected were hitting each other as they exited the guns. The recoil felt like a massager in Jorcy's palms, but well beyond anything comfortable. A tingling ran through his body as the bullets flew. The tips of the barrel of his guns began to glow white-hot as he unloaded. The sound of them was an ear-splitting, deep buzz; they fired so fast that it sounded like one, continuous shot, while in fact it was so many shots fired so fast, it created a very distinct noise.

After 15 seconds (an eternity to Trenzor), the firing ceased. He slowly stood up to see Jorcy slump over. Jorcy had expended too much energy; he had no choice but to collapse. Trenzor stood up and walked to the other side of the red machine. It was no longer red, but a smoldering gray. How he had survived, he would never know. Jorcy slowly looked up at Trenzor, who signaled to him by throwing his two similar guns on the ground.

"I have something you all need."

* * *

**Oh snap.**


	20. Plus One

I don't own Digimon. I've ran out of things to put up here. Special thanks goes to Aku once again.

* * *

"**Digimon: The Silent Project"**

**By Jared Head**

* * *

**Chapter 20**

**Plus One**

* * *

"_**Always forgive your enemies; nothing annoys them so much."**_

**Oscar Wilde**

* * *

"What would that be?" Jorcy asked between deep breaths. 

"Superior knowledge. Certain actions will be occurring over the next few hours, and I know what they will be."

"But you work for Ranzor."

"I use to. To him, I'm dead." Trenzor smiled. "I was actually sent here to kill you. I realize now that if I had, I was as dead as you would have been. That's why I approached, making sure those opening shots I fired missed. Ranzor has lost his sense of Ethics recently, but I have not lost mine."

"Are you going to ask me something along the lines of 'Can I join you?'?"

Trenzor nodded. The strength slowly building back in him, Jorcy thought about becoming human again and was instantly changed. He pushed off and stood up. To his left, he could see Jet through the hole in the hanger wall. Kaida was to his right and beginning to come to. Flame was out cold, face in the ground.

"Did you fight all three?"

"Yes."

"Knocked them all out?"

"My intent was to render them all immobile and then speak directly to you. These three have never seen me, and I know you have. I just had to remove them so speaking to you would be easier."

"You took on all three?"

"Yes." He paused. "Is that a hard idea for you to believe?"

Kaida grunted, clutching her forehead with her claws. "At least I know I'm alive," she complained. She removed one of her claws and saw the two standing there. "You!"

"Me?" Trenzor asked, pointing to himself.

"I'm gonna' kick your ass as soon as I can!"

"Kaida, he's decided to work with us now."

"Yes," Trenzor added, "Ranzor sent me on a mission that would have killed me; therefore, I do not see any reason to aid his operation."

"And I'm about to kill you! Both of you! You," she yelled at Trenzor, "for coming along and ruining not just my day, but everyone's day. And you," she yelled at Jorcy, "I'm gonna' kill you just because I know I can. Flame! Jet! Wake up! We've got some killing to do!"

"Keep yelling. That'll most certainly help a headache," Jorcy snapped back.

"Jorcy!" Jorcy turned to where he heard his name come from. It came from Flame, whose voice was altered because he was holding his nose. "Don't tell me. He's defected, hasn't he?"

"Yes, I have," Trenzor answered.

"Great. Welcome to the club. I would shake, but I'm bleeding fairly profusely from my nose." He turned to see Kaida trying to stand. "Oh c'mon and get up."

"Help! I've fallen and… well, I've fallen!"

"Get your own self up," he scolded, still holding his nose. Jorcy quietly chuckled.

"What's so damn funny?" Flame asked.

"Just your voice, that's all."

Flame paused to think. "Well, looks like someone has finally said something that I don't have a smart answer to. Nice work." His sarcasm was back. "Kaida, quit your rolling and get up. We're going to the hospital."

"But I can't get up."

"Oh yeah. You go from hard-ass in front of Jorcy to little baby when someone finally gives you what you deserved. Jorcy, tell Jet I'll be waiting for him in the hospital."

"I will," Jorcy nodded.

"Okay," Flame said, walking over and helping Kaida onto her feet, "let's get you to the maternity ward."

"But I'm not pregnant."

"No, but you're acting like you are."

"Don't mind them," Jorcy explained, "They're always like that."

"I figured."

"So you've just decided to quit?"

"Yes. And I want to tell you that an invitation may be on the way. I came up with the idea of inviting you and your friends to a party that Ranzor will be having in the Real World. You see, he left the Digital World and started a pharmaceutical company in the Real World. They're launching a new medication at this party, and I proposed that we kill you all there."

"Well, that's a fairly comforting thought."

"Well!" said a familiar voice, "Jorcy, why are you standing so calmly next to someone who's just tried to kill us all? Oh! Look! Flame and Kaida have disappeared! What'd they do? Break up into data?"

"Jet!"

"Hold on Jorcy," he said, walking up to Trenzor, "Where're your guns? Dropped them, perhaps?" The sound of his claws engaging tore through the air.

"Jet!"

"Christ, Jorcy, can't you tell I'm about to rip the hell out of someone!?!"

"Flame wants you to report to the hospital!"

"Oh," Jet stepped back. "He's alive? So what? Did you defect or something?"

"Yes," Trenzor answered promptly, "I did."

"Oh, well, thanks for telling us as soon as you had the chance. You know, I always wanted to put a hole in the wall of the hanger, not be the thing that puts the hole in the wall!"

The shield on Jet's back split. He ran, slowly increasing his speed. Shortly after, he jumped and took to the skies.

"Somehow I think he dislikes me."

"Oh no," Jorcy reassured him as he walked in the direction of the hospital, "he's a jerk to everyone he meets for the first time."

* * *

"Defected," Flame said. Flame, Kaida and Jet were on medical benches. Jorcy and Trenzor sat in the only chairs in the room. 

"Yes, I did."

Silence.

"Do we even have a doctor on staff?" Flame asked.

"We should," Kaida answered. "If not, I'm going to want a revision on my benefits."

"Oh yeah, you know, I'm so worried about my 401k," Jet quipped. A quick knock on the door indicated the entrance of the doctor. Human, and looking like a typical doctor in his white coat holding a clipboard.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything important."

"Oh no Doc, we're just waiting for you," Flame mused.

"Is Doc your real name?" Kaida asked, holding a laugh back.

"Surprisingly it is."

"How ironic," she giggled.

"How unoriginal," Jet muttered.

"Well, let's see here," he said, looking over the charts, "Minor injuries? Battle? Well, let's start with you," he said to Jet. "What hurts?"

"My brain."

"Thinking does that to some," Doc said, matching Jet's wit.

"Oh! Burn!" Flame yelled, raising a claw before thrusting it down.

"5 points to Doc!" Kaida added.

"Thank you. Now, in all seriousness, what hurts?"

"My head. It's like a headache or something, but it feels like it's deep within my head."

"Sounds like a simple headache." Doc took out a piece of paper and scribbled down a prescription. "Take one pill everyday until you've finished off the bottle. If it continues to hurt after then, let me know and we'll have another look."

"I can't even read this," he smirked, looking over the prescription. "Is scribbling a class you have to take to become a doctor?"

"Not really, we all just do that. Now, ladies first?"

"Sure. I've got the same feeling Jet has."

"Well, then you'll be getting the same treatment," he said, scribbling on a piece of paper again. "Now," he turned to Flame, handing the paper to Kaida, "bottle of what they're getting?"

"No, I've got a legitimate injury, not a pain within my head."

"Is that because someone might have an empty one?"

"Oh! Redemption burn!" Jet yelled, raising his claw before thrusting it down.

"5 more points to Doc!" Kaida added. The two laughed.

"Hardy-har-har," Flame mocked back. "My nose actually. It feels like something in it might be broken."

"Well, off with the face mask." Flame began the careful procedure of removing.

"So, the horn is actually attached to you?"

"Good observation Jet. Go up to the board and put a gold star by your name," he said, continuing to remove the mask, "It also helps to keep the face mask in place."

"Oh really now? I just thought it was crazy glue."

"Okay, keep your trap shut for just a second Flame," Doc said. Quickly grabbing his muzzle, he started applying pressure, "Now, when it hurts, let me know by grunting."

Doc continued. After a few areas were checked, he moved down to below the horn, and Flame grunted, "Well, I didn't feel anything like a break, but I would say that it's at least a deep bruise. Time to kick out the Clear."

The cabinet opened and Doc immediately spotted the vial. He then reached for the hypodermic needles. Carefully opening the plastic enclosure they were individually wrapped in, he stabbed it through the top of the vial. The plunger being pulled back sucked in the Clear. The needle was removed; the container it was attached to was flicked by Doc's finger and a quick squirt facing upwards removed any bubbles in it.

"Feels like a little bee sting, right?" Flame asked nervously.

"Oh! Look at that! Flame's afraid of needles!" Jorcy said happily. Doc turned with the needle held loosely in his hand. He deliberately turned so that the needle came within inches of Jorcy. Jorcy ducked down and dodged out of the way of the needle, leaning back as far as possible in his seat.

"You were saying?" Doc smoothly asked.

"I think I'll go outside right about now," Jorcy said, standing up. He quickly walked out of the room.

"I think I'll go too," Trenzor added after Jorcy had left. He walked out in a much more relaxed manner than Jorcy. Doc turned back to Flame.

"Little bee sting? Nah, this is like a train smashing into you at full speed."

He rubbed an alcohol swab just below the horn. With precision, the needle was slowly inserted into the skin and down to the bruise. Flame's eyes closed as the Clear was injected. As precisely as Doc had inserted the needle, he precisely removed the needle.

"Alright, any other boo-boo's I should know about?" he asked to all three.

Flame sneezed, "Ah-choo!!! Ouch!"

"Sleeping problems? Eating disorders?"

Flame sneezed again, "Ah-choo!!! Ouch!!!"

"Alcoholism? Drug usage?"

Flame sneezed for a third time, "Ah-choo!!! Oh bloody hell!"

"Sneezing issues there Flame?" Jet chuckled.

"I seem to be having," he sneezed, "Ah-choo!!! Ouch! I seem to be having a," he sneezed again, "Ah-choo!!! Goddamn! I seem to be having a sneezing fit, and it hurts every time I sneeze."

"That should wear off in a few minutes," doc reassured.

"Ah-choo!!! Freakin' a'! And what if it doesn't?"

"Well, good-luck. Let's just hope you don't start having flamethrower style sneezes. If that happens, I can't help you there."

"Oh f…," he sneezed as he stood up to walk out, "Ah-choo!!!"

Jet erupted into laughter, "Seven!" he yelled with glee. Kaida began to join in with Jet. Doc's face showed laughter being held back.

"Final question before I let any of you go: Venereal diseases?"

"How about no to everything Doc," Kaida quickly cut in.

"Alright, get the hell out of here before you see me take some of these pills."

"Ah-choo!!!"

"Eight!!!" Jet fell onto the floor, writhing in laughter. Kaida soon quickly joined him. Doc could no longer hold it back and keeled over in laughter.

From down the hall, "It's not funny you idi…" Flame said, stopping mid-sentence and sneezed, "Ah-choo!!!"

* * *

"So, what about you?" he asked as Trenzor walked alongside him. 

"Well, I was born from an egg like every Digimon. I'm a Digimon type that has no name, as there aren't many of us around. This was a bit of a shock to everyone around me, but luckily I wasn't cast aside like so many others. I grew up with a very happy life. I have always wanted to help justice prevail, which is why I became a bounty hunter. I was very good at my craft. You know, it's almost an art in the way you have to predict what a digimon will be doing next.

"I never turned down a bounty, and I only had a few failures. I tried to keep up with those that I caught and returned. I tried to find ways for them to redeem themselves once they were done serving whatever they had to. I helped so many pick themselves up after they fell down. Offered that helping-hand that everyone needs. This went on for a few years and then that utopia essentially destroyed itself. I wanted nothing to do with them. They lead lives in what they considered a perfect society. No one is perfect. I think with my past work no one knew that better than me. Right around that time I met Ranzor.

"He asked me if I'd like to help out the greatest cause for justice that may ever occur. I joined him and here I am today. It was only when coming out to do this mission that I realized as an individual…no…that I realized that all the time I've spent with Ranzor hasn't been the greatest cause for justice. It's been quite the opposite. Now I need to redeem myself. I've fallen. I need that helping hand."

"Well," Jorcy stopped. Trenzor stopped as well.

"Well what?" he asked. Jorcy extended his hand, "Shake it."

Trenzor brought his hand out and shook Jorcy's.

"There. There's my helping hand."

* * *

**Chapter 25 will be the end. **


	21. Close Range

I don't own Digimon. I own certain things though, as those shall remain nameless.

* * *

"**Digimon: The Silent Project"**

**by Jared Head**

* * *

**Chapter 21**

**Close Range**

* * *

"_**A good plan, violently executed now, is better than a perfect plan next week."**_

**George S. Patton**

* * *

"_Dear Mr. Black, you are invited to the debut of a new_ blah blah blah _this Friday, July 2nd at the Long Beach Convention Center. We have already reserved a seat for you and four other guests. Signed, Dr. Ranzor,_ and abbreviations of what he's a doctor of." 

"Trenzor," Flame said, looking over at him, "Thanks."

"No problem," he saluted back.

"Sounds more like a setup to me," Kaida threw out.

"It is," Trenzor added. All five sat in silence.

"Well? Should we go?" Jorcy asked.

"We've been waiting to get close to him, to take him out like he tried to take us out," Flame looked over at Jet, "Is it possible to reverse the odds?"

"Most certainly. I mean, it says here I can bring four guests, and that could make it five against one when we get down to taking him out. There is the chance that we could be killed though, unless we're all willing to risk everything to do this."

"I am," Kaida stood.

"Me too," said Trenzor.

"Well, yeah, if anyone should've been the first to suggest this, it should've been you Trousers," Jet remarked.

"Trenzor," he corrected.

"Treznor, trousers, whatever. Damn. Seems like everyone nowadays has gotta' have a complicated name that their parents think is original. Next we'll hear is Alawishes Crunch or maybe we'll all one day run into an Artemis Barter," he ranted.

"Okay, look, the main thing here is that we have to get in undetected, position ourselves, confront and execute," Jorcy said, pulling an invisible trigger with his finger.

"Why don't we just walk right up to him?" Flame threw out.

"Like that'd work," Jet scoffed.

"Alright, since my idea isn't working, why don't you come up with one?"

"My idea's problem is that the Long Beach Convention Center is that it doesn't have any catwalks across the halls or anything like that."

"Isn't it next to that stadium with that big mural of the whales painted on it?" Kaida asked.

"Exactly," he brought his hands over his face, "A good place to hit from would be above, but we don't have that luxury."

"Then just walk right up to him," Jorcy suggested. All four turned to him.

Trenzor spoke first, "I'll take the shot if no one objects. And I'd like to do it at long range if no one objects to that as well."

"We walk in, schmooze a bit, then crowd in on Trenzor and take that golden shot at him. Nothing else is going to work. We can't go top-down on him. We can't be stealthy about it. We have to nail him right there out in the open."

"Crazy stuff has always worked in the past," Flame added, "Who says it won't work now?"

"Yeah," Kaida agreeing with the growing majority.

"Who says it won't work now? I do. Lady Luck does, and she signs that with a kiss too!"

"All in favor of shooting at close range, raise 'em."

Everyone but Jet raised their claws. Jorcy raised his hand.

"Well, looks like I'm the rain on the parade," Jet grumbled, standing up to leave the room, "I'm the goddamn hurricane doing more on the parade. That's more like me now, right?"

* * *

**May 1st is coming up fast**. 


	22. Plans in Motion

I don't own Digimon. Ford and Shelby own the Ford Mustang Shelby GT500. GM owns the Saturn Sky Redline. This is the second to last chapter, so enjoy it!

* * *

**Digimon: The Silent Project**

**By Jared Head**

* * *

**Chapter 22**

**Plans in Motion**

* * *

"_**There are some defeats more triumphant than victories."**_

**Michel de Montaigne**

* * *

"Now listen to me Brad, this is a very important night, okay?" 

"Yeah," he answered, "I'm listening."

"Just 'cause your younger don't mean you're any smarter, okay? Now get back out there and do your job, got it?"

"Yeah," Brad said, leaving the small room. He walked down the hallway and out the door, taking a seat at the valet sign.

* * *

His leg was cramping like he'd never felt before. Every second the muscle contracted further and further. The pain was enough to make him sweat. 

"How the hell did I get talked into this?" Flame asked, in the trunk of Jet's Shelby. His stomach lurching as the car went around a turn.

"I think I'm gonna' be sick," he added, covering his mouth.

* * *

"Boring freakin' night," Brad said aloud. Everyone coming to the event tonight showed up in limos or cars they drove themselves. 

_So much for tips…rich pricks…well, this sure beats summer school…I'm making money…for college…or am I?...maybe, I can buy all the---_

Brad's thoughts being interrupted by the roar of an engine. He looked down the long driveway to see brake lights, but moving towards him.

"What the…" he trailed off.

The Shelby reached as fast as it could in reverse. It spun and the driver quickly shifted into gear, letting the car spin around once more. Hitting the brakes, he stopped inches away from the "Valet" sign and Brad with a mouth wide-open in amazement. The door opened and out stepped Jet, dressed in a pin-stripe tuxedo.

"Like it?" he asked.

Brad nodded.

"Know how to fill out papers at the DMV for a change of ownership?"

"Yeah, everyone does."

"Cool. Kid, here's a tip," he said, throwing the keys to Brad. He caught them with one hand. He looked at Jet with confusion.

"Where's the tip?"

"Just threw it at you."

Brad pointed at the keys and Jet nodded. He popped the trunk as the diversion was about to be made. The smile on Brad's face went exploded into a massive expanse. Brad pointed at the car with wide-eyes looking at Jet.

"Keep the change."

"Thanks mister!" he said, getting into the car. Jet lifted the trunk. In the blink of an eye, Flame was out of sight. Brad floored the throttle, smoke pouring off of the tires as he pulled away, laughing with utter joy. He stood there with crossed arms, satisfied with what he had done.

"It was the lowest point in my life when I was given my first car. I did exactly that, a burnout, and I've never looked back and never went any lower. About time I pass it on," he finished, opening the doors and walking into the convention center's main hall.

* * *

"I'm so nervous," he admitted. 

"I know you are," she replied.

"I mean, is it okay to be nervous?" he said, shifting the car into second gear.

"Well, I'd think so. I'm a little nervous too Jorcy, so don't feel like you're alone."

"Yeah," he said, "But is your hand shaking like mine?"

He put his hand up and it shook up and down almost an inch. It shook continuously until he brought it back down.

"Oh for goodness sake," Kaida said, "Just take a chill pill and keep it cool."

"I don't have any Ritalin's on me," he said, looking over to her. He hadn't really given her human form a good look until then. And boy, did she---

"CAR!!!" she screamed.

Looking up, he quickly jerked the wheel to the right and missed smashing into someone's rear-bumper. After a few seconds of the car's engine dominating the sound, they both began to nervously laugh.

"That could've, well, you know," he chuckled.

"Yeah," she said chuckling, "It could've killed us! Hilarious!"

"You really don't try to hide any sarcasm, do you?"

"No. It is free of charge, so no need to complain."

He couldn't hold it back anymore, "Damn you're cute."

"Was that an advance or sarcasm?"

* * *

The whole hall had been converted into a dining room and dance floor. The outside portion was a huge drinking area for networking with other persons and such. But the thing that had caught the attention of Jet was outside. 

"She's so beautiful. I've never seen anything take my breath away simply by looks," he took a sip from his James Bond he had ordered (with much difficulty getting the bartender to understand how to actually make the drink, poor sucker); "I bet she's been around the block a few times. I mean, with a body like that, she's been around everyone's block a few times. I wanna' be next to slip myself on in."

The well-spoken man standing next to him slowly turned, "It's just a car."

"How dare you say such an abomination!" Jet retorted with fury, "This isn't just any car; it's a Formula 1 car! Don't you get it!?!"

"You are the most obnoxious person I have ever had drinks with," the well-spoken man said, walking away.

"And you're the first of many uptight moneybags I'm going to piss off tonight," Jet unloaded onto him. He removed one of his hands from the glass he was holding. He made a "V" with two of his fingers and twisted them while moving his hand upwards, letting a raspberry from his mouth be heard.

He took a long swig from the cup with his hand still gesturing. He gritted his teeth, letting out a sigh that indicated the strength of the drink. He continued with his insult, "If you come back, I'll grab that guy's monocle and shove it up your golden-plated ass!"

"Ah yes, the man I was just looking for," a smooth voice said from behind Jet. He spun around to a very sharply dressed man. Then he looked to the man's left and saw a very nicely dressed woman.

"Sweet Jesus," he whispered, "Pardon my French, but that man had called me a word so much terribly worse, I shan't not utter it upon your virgin ears," he said with a British accent, moving his glass around in a circle before sniffing at it. He sipped at it and smacked his mouth open and closed. He looked up in though, "Hmmm, that taste."

"How does it taste?" the man asked.

"Absurd…yet flaccid!"

"Ah yes, the wit of a Jet is what I heard you had Mr. Black."

"Hmm, that does sound familiar. Might I know you're name sir before my blood-alcohol level rises any more?" he asked taking another large swig.

"Ranzor," he stated simply. Jet choked on the James Bond, "Dr. Ranzor to be exact."

Jet put his glass down on the railing surrounding the Formula 1 car.

"So, we meet again…finally."

There was a moment of awkward silence.

"Finally?"

"Yes," Jet responded, "I know you don't know who exactly I am, but you'll find out later."

"I'm afraid I don't follow."

"You will later," he said, taking his last sip, "and you better follow. That's what most people do around me on a track."

"But we're not on a track."

"Yeah, says you."

* * *

Jorcy had been sitting in the car in front of the valet sign for nearly 10 minutes. 

"Where is someone?"

"Well, why don't you just go and park the car?" Kaida asked.

"Because, valet service is free, it says so on the invitation we all got. So, where the hell is the valet?"

A short man poked his head out of the door to the main hall, "Anyone seen the goddamn valet kid!?!"

"Well," Jorcy muttered, "I think that explains it," he said, exiting the car. He walked to the other side and opened the door for Kaida.

"Am I suppose to thank you?" she asked standing up out of the car, "Could've opened it my damn self."

"Oh what?" he said to Kaida as she walked away, "Was it because I said you were cute to me?"

"Shut up!" was promptly heard.

"You can't tell me to shut up! I'm your ride out of here, remember!"

"Shut up!" as she went through the open door.

"Hey!" Jorcy said, running after her. He smashed face first into the door. The glass cracked, as did Jorcy's pride.

"Damn Gabor, you really did clean those glass doors good, didn't you?" one janitor said to the other.

* * *

Trenzor knew he had only one chance to make the shot. Jet was being a perfect distraction. His plan of getting drunk around Ranzor was working, and it made the two the life of the party. Looking through the sight, he aimed his ultrarifle well. He could hit a flea off a dog's back from several miles away if need be. 

He exhaled, adjusting his breathing to take the shot properly. He slowed his heartbeat down, preventing any accidental movements from the blood flowing through veins as his heart pushed it within him.

He had the man's head lined-up. He was ready to take the shot.

* * *

Another man walked up to Kaida, who was standing alone. She looked up to him, "No," she said sternly. 

"But I'd like to da---"

"No."

"Would you like this da---"

"No," she said walking away. She continued until she reached the outside patio. She could see Jet, now swaying slightly still talking with Ranzor, who was also beginning to show signs of having a little too much.

"Shouldn't be long now," she muttered. Walking back inside took her out of the chill of the ocean.

* * *

Jorcy was a nervous wreck. 

"C…c…can I get a Coke?" he asked the bartender, his hand shaking uncontrollably. The name-tag read: "Angus".

"Yeah," he replied with a gruff voice. Jorcy turned to look back at the hall. The dance floor was empty, the DJ finishing his setup. A tap on his shoulder startled Jorcy. He yelped while spinning around quickly.

"Cherry?" Angus asked with his face screaming of confusion, "Do you want a cherry in your coke sir?"

"Y…y…yes please," Jorcy stammered.

"Alright, there yah go," he said, dropping it in. Jorcy gave him a thanking smile and turned with the coke in hand. He watched as the cherry dissolved quickly. He turned back to the bartender who was staring at him.

"There's, a…cherry…it…uh…cherry."

"What?" Angus asked, getting annoyed.

"Cherry go poof!" was the only words he could think of to say.

"Drink it, I implore you."

"No, you drink it."

"No, you drink it."

"Drink it."

"No, you!"

"No, you drink it!"

"No, you drink it you little pipsqueak," he said, looking around to make sure no one was paying attention.

"I will not drink this coke until I get a cherry that doesn't dissolve."

"Oh," Angus sneered.

"That wasn't a cherry, was it?" Angus's face turned a frightening shade of red, "You work for Ranzor, don't you?"

"Come 'er you little---"

Jorcy was gone in a heartbeat.

* * *

"So then, I said to him, no…you…you..you son son," Jet slurred slightly. Ranzor burst into drunken laughter, along with Jet. A plastic bag of white powder fell out of his pocket. Ranzor bent over to pick it up. 

"You dr…dropped this," he said, handing it to Jet.

"Oh, yeah, I…I," he couldn't finish his sentence. Slowly, he fell to the ground.

"Get up off the ground you…yah…me…shit I'm drunk."

"Aw, screw you!" Jet said, opening the baggy. He rolled over onto his back and poured the contents of the bag into his mouth.

He looked up at Ranzor who was bent over him. His left ear twitched, and Ranzor jerked up, clutching at it. He let out a cry of pain as a loud crack echoed through the buildings.

* * *

"Damn," Trenzor muttered. He missed the perfect shot.

* * *

Ranzor ran off and into the main hallway. Jet was following very closely behind him. 

A loud commotion went through as people began to pour out of one of the smaller halls. Ranzor stopped to observe the crowd but was startled by what he saw them running from.

"Surprised to see me?" Flame asked. Ranzor seemed to sober up instantly.

"No, not at all." He quickly turned and began running back towards the patio.

* * *

As soon as he heard the sound of the ultrarifle, Jorcy began to run to the upper patio where he was to meet Flame. As he got there, it was deserted. Glasses all over the ground, their contents strewn about. Tables flipped over, chairs on the ground. He took cover behind one of the tables on its side and shifted to his digimon form. He took out the two guns and gripped them as tight as he could. Flame was going to be corralling Ranzor to the patio. Once he heard Ranzor, he was to unload all he had. 

_"Waiting is hard," _he thought.

* * *

"I don't want to hear it," Flame said, kicking Ranzor to the floor. He grabbed him as well as he could by the neck and lifted him off of his feet. He threw him into the elevator, smashing the glass, "If you want to live, get to the patio," he growled. A fire grew between his claws, and he aimed it at Ranzor. 

"Fine," Ranzor said. The door closed.

* * *

He was amazed at how early he could hear Ranzor approaching. He must have been listening to him walk towards the patio for nearly a minute, from lord knows how far away. Was the elevator really that far? It didn't matter. In a matter of seconds, it'd all be over for Ranzor, and this crazy ride would be over. 

He heard the door to the patio open. In an instant, he popped up and sure enough, there Ranzor stood.

"So, I finally meet you Mr. Jorcy," he said like a gentleman.

"Yeah, what's it mean to you?"

* * *

He could hear the conversation below and viewed it as a perfect distraction. He shifted, and was ready to strike. One BlackWarGreymon claw from above and that would be it. He jumped off of the roof and began to fall, claw ready to strike.

* * *

"I'm sorry Mr. Ranzor, but now, I think we all know what's going to happen." 

"I'm afraid so, eh? All for a good cause right?"

"What?" Jorcy asked. Something about what Ranzor said struck him.

"All for a good cause, right?" he repeated. In that instant, Jorcy's mind exploded. What was he fighting for? Was it a good cause? In fact, what was the cause?

"Hello!" Ranzor said annoyed, "Are you going to shoot me, or can I go."

"To hell with this," Jorcy grumbled. He pulled the trigger just as soon as the feeling of air being compressed came upon him. He fired a few shots, his eyes closing out of reflex to the air rushing past him. He fell to the ground, the air making him lose his balance.

He opened his eyes, now facing the ground. That was it! He had finally ended this horrible nightmare he had been sucked into! He could hear someone taking in their final breaths. That sickening death gurgle that marks the end of one's life. He rolled over onto his back and looked up. The sight was worse than he imagined.

He grasped at the hole in his chest. He thought there should be pain, but he couldn't feel any. Only the cool chill of the air against his chest cavity. It was nearly surreal as he could feel himself slipping away.

Jet fell to his knees, now with both claws covering the hole in his chest. Jorcy stood up, dropping his guns and smiling out of sheer disbelief. Ranzor was gone, but it didn't matter anymore.

"Just," he said, paining to go on, "like…my brother," he said, looking up at Jorcy. He tried to take a breath in, but he couldn't. He was on the verge of death.

"Jet," was all Jorcy could muster as he kneeled down.

"Don't worry," he said, "Death is nothing," he said with a reassuring smile. He collapsed to the floor, still holding his chest. He kept his eyes fixed on Jorcy until they closed. He exhaled for the final time. Snapshots from life were seen, and then, nothing.

Jorcy stood over the now dead Jet. He felt like someone was watching him. He looked towards the doorway and a blur moved away.

He heard the familiar metallic clink and turned to see Ranzor holding one of Jorcy's guns.

"I'm so sorry about your loss," he mocked.

"Just get it over with already," Jorcy said, "Screw all of this! This is pure bullshit! All of it!" Ranzor watched, keeping the gun aimed at Jorcy as he paced.

"Well, are you going to shot me or can I go?"

"My words, not yours," Ranzor smirked.

Jorcy walked up and grabbed the barrel of the gun, "C'mon!" he cried, pulling the barrel to his forehead, "Pull the damn trigger already! Everything's been taken away from me all because of you! So why not just take my life too! Pull that goddamn trigger!"

"Did I make the decisions for you?" he asked simply. It hit Jorcy like a train, "I didn't think so. You made your own choices. So everything her is a consequence of yourself, not me. So, now that you've had a little lesson in life, let's have one in death."

"I hate to say it, but you're completely right," Jorcy said, a tear rolling down his cheek.

"I know I am. Strange how you're now on the other side or your own weaponry, isn't it? What does it feel like?"

"I don't know," Trenzor said, placing the barrel of his ultrarifle against Ranzor's head, "How about you tell me?"

Ranzor's shocked eyes locked on Trenzor. He didn't hesitate.

The loud crack echoed through downtown once again.

* * *

**...and that's the end of two. **


	23. Epilogue

I don't own Digimon. There is quite a harsh word in this one, so you've been warned.

* * *

"**Digimon: The Silent Project"**

**By Jared Head**

* * *

**Epilogue**

* * *

I wanted the hell out, and I let him know. When told, Gennai sighed. Something in me wanted to say he understood, but I don't think he could. Gennai isn't me, so he can't feel what I do. All I wanted to hear was three words from him, and if I didn't hear them, I was walking away anyhow. 

"You may go," he said. I walked away relieved. Once I left Gennai's room, I went down to mine to get one thing I was told I'd need. I was flat out abandoning everything I had done here, but I had a reason. I zipped up my backpack, slipped it on and began my long walk through the maze of corridors to the hanger. I'll put the top down, throw my backpack in the seat next to me and be gone. No dramatic exit, no theatrics, just a plain old exit.

I finally reached that damn door to the hanger, and opening it revealed three figures, all three standing next to my car. Edan and Kaida smiled weakly to me. Flame looked straight through me, his arms crossed.

"Well Jorcy, it's been something else," Edan said, extending a metal claw. I took it and we shook, "I still owe you."

"No, not at all," I answered. I meant it too.

"Oh yeah. I'll repay you someday." With that, he left through the door I entered in.

Kaida walked up to me. I expected her to punch me, but was knocked out with a hug.

"Hope things get better," was all she would say.

"Yeah, I hope so too," was all I could say. She released me from her grip and walked over to the door. As she went through the doorway, she gave me one last look. I'll never forget it. The door closed, and that was it. Now it was just me and the first one I ever met.

I looked over at the open hanger door. Light spilling in from the beautiful day outside, I couldn't help but smile at the brilliant blue marked with puffs of white. I pulled out my sunglasses and put them over my eyes.

"Kind of makes you wonder what the point is," I said, "It's so beautiful, but only for one day."

I turned back to face Flame, who was now looking away from me.

"I think we sometimes fail to recognize how important fighting for a cause is. Because of that, our lives become dull. Like a repetition of tasks day in, day out. Well, I still don't know what I was fighting for."

"Because we needed assistance," he finally said.

"And it was my choice to go, whether there was a reason or not. Now you've got what you wanted, and that would be a dead Ranzor," I pressed on, taking my sunglasses off slowly, "But are you happy with it?"

"Happy with what?"

"You seemed to have something against Ranzor."

"Yeah," he scoffed at me, "He faked his own death to allow himself to disappear and that way, he could destroy his "mistakes"."

"Well, you got what you wanted. A beautiful ending, right?"

I didn't see it coming, but when it hit, I was knocked off my feet. I reached up and rubbed my cheek, the sting of the punch building up. My sunglasses lay on the floor. He began to walk away, but stopped to turn to me as I sat up on that hard concrete.

"Just remember, I saw all," he said, opening the door.

"Flame," I said.

He stopped. I took a pause to gather the courage to say the words I wanted to.

"Get the fuck out of my life."

He closed the door slowly. I picked up my sunglasses and threw them as hard as I could at that door. They smashed off of it into thousands of pieces.

I stood myself up, dusted myself off and resumed my walk to my car. I took the top down, threw my backpack in, started her up and drove out. A dramatic exit, with plenty of theatrics, a major exit. I drove out and back to home.

* * *

I was fairly uncomfortable in the bank. It was cold and full of marble. Marble for the floor. Marble on the columns in the middle of the huge room that made up the bank. Why Jet would put his will here is beyond me. I brought along that backpack with the only thing I had put in it when I left. I was told I'd need to show it at the bank, and they'd understand. It seemed more like a sick joke to me. 

A well-dressed man approached me saying, "Are you here for the safety box for a Mr. Jet Black."

"Yes, that'd be me."

"Follow me please," he said, motioning me to follow him. I did, putting the backpack on my shoulders, "I'm terribly sorry to hear about your loss. I'd like you to know that on the behalf of myself and all of the staff here, we offer our condolences."

"Thanks, and I mean it. Every little bit helps. I mean, I've got nothing without him. It's like running on empty and I'm about to sputter and die out soon."

"There's no need to worry about that," he said, "Do you have faith?" he asked while opening a door.

"Yeah."

"Then you'll see him again. I hope things workout for you Mr. Black."

No one had ever called me that, "Thank you," and I meant it. I looked around, and I was in the vault. It was made out of hardened steel, just like any other bank vault. There was a woman standing by a metal wall full of safety boxes.

"Mr. Black?" she asked.

"Yeah?"

"I'm terribly sorry to have to ask this, but have you brought along the proof?"

"Yeah," I answered, handing the backpack to her. She unzipped it and looked in. Before she handed it back to me, her face grimaced in disbelief.

"Again, my apologies, but you're guardian was a rather special case."

Guardian? I had never really thought of Jet as a guardian, but now, it made sense to me.

She took out a key and unlocked one of the larger metal boxes. It slid out like a drawer and in that box were a single manila folder and a small box. She picked it up, tore the top off and pulled out a single sheet of white paper.

"This now begins the reading of the last will and testament of Mr. Jet Black," she said to me. I stood there, wondering what Jet had in store for me. She cleared her throat and continued, "By the time this will be read, I will have passed on. Do not remember me for my passing, but remember me for all the good times we had. Do not worry about the future Jorcy. For me, death is nothing."

Those words made my mind replay what happened again.

"I formally agree that upon my death, my 35 stake in Pacific Factory Flying is to be sold at the price listed on the NYSE at the time of this reading. All monetary worth is to be placed in a new account at the very bank this will is being held and signed to one Jorcy Black. The account name will be Black, with the password S-I-L-E-N-T, silent. I hereby agree to divert all material possessions over and signed to one Jorcy Black. In closing, there will be a small box that is to be opened only by Jorcy Black within one hour of initial possession. God bless."

I dropped the backpack. All uncertainties were extinguished. The weight of the world was off of my shoulders.

"Let me be right back to check the price and order a sale of all those shares he held. Go ahead a pull up a chair."

I collapsed into the closest one I could find.

She came back a few minutes later, slim paper in her hand. She stopped to read it to me.

"To Mr. Jorcy Black, payable to account Black, the value of Jet Black's 35 share in Pacific Factory Flying. All material possessions are handed over to you as soon as you sign the will," she said, handing it to me. I took the pen she offered me and signed it.

"Here is the check you are to cash, which we'll have to put into multiple accounts here on the grounds of its size."

I looked it over with eyes that she had to have found abnormally large. I tried to put it into numbers, but the words spoke for themselves.

_One billion, two-hundred and thirty-four million, nine-hundred and twenty-seven thousand, five-hundred and sixteen dollars and three cents._

I handed it over, and in an hour, I was walking out the door.

As I did, I couldn't believe what had happened. Then, it finally dawned on me. As much as I want it to happen, he won't be coming back.

I got into my car and tore open the small box. I read a note that was left in it.

_Dear Jorcy,_

_I'm sorry that this has happened. But don't stop your life, keep on living. I'm somewhere better now and one day we'll meet again. I hope you like what I left you behind. Don't go spend it all in one place! In this box are three things:_

_A detailed plan on how I want you to fake my death_

_A receipt for something I think you'll like_

_Something I want you to remember me as_

_Take care now,_

_Jet Black_

I put the key in the ignition and turned it. As I looked into the box, tears began to well up. I held them back, but they eventually escaped. I took out the memento, placed it in the seat next to me and buckled it in.

I placed my car into reverse, then back into drive and to the parking lot's exit. Turned to the right and began to make my way to the beach. Something told me to go there. Maybe it was the fact that it was Jet's favorite place to be, maybe I just wanted to get away to somewhere.

All I wanted to do there was just sit and think. Think about what I've been through and my life. So here I go to the beach.

The sky was that brilliant blue, and the clouds were those puffs of white. My traveled under it with me behind the wheel and the BlackWarGreymon action figure buckled in the seat next to me.

Today is something I'll never forget.

**The End**

* * *


End file.
